Author Fighters: Dark Age
by TLSoulDude
Summary: Credit to JC 619 for the concept. Lunatic, Kitty, and Wildrook are transported to an alternate world where the Darksides have taken over. They must gather what remains of the Author Fighters and fight back...with an unexpected ally.
1. Chapter 1

Author Fighters: Dark Age

Chapter 1: Reality Warp

_The Black Berets: Merciless fighters trained by SOLDIER and experts in multiple forms of combat. This group of combat specialists only recently became known in other areas of fanfiction realm. The Author Fighter leader, DarkPaladinmon, had a meeting with their leader. They left on unfriendly terms. The Author Fighters do their jobs as a service. The Black Berets ask for money._

_Surely, these two groups could never work together…_

_Could they?_

Lunatic sighed as he opened a bottled water and began chugging it. He just got through a combat session with Airnaruto AND a sword-fighting lesson from Hikari.

It was about a month after an instance with a group of former Japanese Assassins and a Darkside that resembled Lunatic's brother, but that's neither here nor there.

"E-excuse me." Said a voice. A girl with tanned skin, white hair, blue eyes, and blue clothing walked over.

"Oh, hey, Kitty." Lunatic grinned. This was a friend he recently made: Kitten Hachi-chan…or Kitty as some members just called her.

"Where's that dinosaur-guy?" Kitty asked.

"D-Dude?" Lunatic asked, "He's off on some sorta exploration mission to find the lost city of El…something. Heck, I don't study Aztecs. Dunno when he's coming back."

DarkPaladinmon then stormed across the training room, looking cross.

"Yo, Boss Wiz…" Lunatic immediately got zapped.

"Please DON'T call me that." DP ordered, "I got enough of it from your brother."

"What's wrong?" Kitty asked.

"You know those Black Beret guys?" DP asked.

"Yeah, we do." Kitty said, "Aren't they those ex-SOLDIER guys?"

"Yes." DP replied, "I just had a meeting with their leader. I've NEVER met anyone so infuriating in my LIFE. He's charging people that his team helps, thinks he's better than just about everyone, AND justifies it while he's at it."

"Sounds more like ya had a talk with Nukid." Lunatic smirked.

"I HEARD THAT, TWERP!" Nukid shouted as he zipped over to Lunatic with an enraged look on his face.

"STOP CALLING ME SHORT, PERVKID!" Loon shouted back.

"STOP CALLING ME PERVKID, MUNCHKIN!" Nukes barked.

"You two…KNOCK IT OFF." Kitty said, getting between the two.

"That's pretty much how the meeting went." DP sighed, "If they saw things the way we did, we would be a pretty powerful alliance."

DP then walked into his room. The three stared before Nukid growled.

"I'm off. See ya." Nukid said, walking off before muttering, "Brat."

"Jerk." Lunatic shot back.

"You two never miss a chance to have a go at each other, do you?" Kitty asked.

"Well…it's personal." Lunatic replied, "It's a…love/hate relationship. We love to hate each other."

Immediately, a man with white hair walked in. This was Wildrook.

"Hey, am I too late to see Loon and Nukes toss insults at each other?" Rook asked.

"Yeah." Kitty replied.

"Oh, hey, Rook." Lunatic greeted.

"Would an Insanity Contest be called for at this point?" Rook asked.

"It WOULD be." Lunatic grinned, "Kitty, keep score."

Kitty pulled out a bell and quickly hit it.

(Five hours later…)

"Well, I counter your Spartans with chain guns that fire Avatar figurines with my ULTIMATE weapon." Lunatic smirked, "A CHICKEN IN A CLOWN COSTUME!"

WHACK!

"DANGIT, PHOENIX!" Lunatic shouted, "I'm not using it on you!"

"Sorry. Reflex." Phoenix said, apologetically.

"Well, it's tied at seven hundred and thirty-five points each." Kitty said.

"Well, I could trump him with the power of…" Rook quickly put on a pair of Dr. Insano goggles before finishing by shouting, "SCIENCE!"

"And I can trump you with my BRILLIANCE!" Lunatic shot back, emphasizing 'brilliance'.

The two stared at each other.

"What're you two waiting for?" Kitty asked.

"Not sure." Rook said.

"No idea." Loon replied.

"Made something in the lab. Wanna check it out?" Rook asked.

"Sure." Lunatic shrugged.

The two walked away like nothing happened. Kitty sighed. Those two…

"So…what's this thing again?" Lunatic asked, looking over a strange-looking device that looked like the result between a combination between a wristwatch and a pedometer.

"It's an interdimensional transporter." Rook replied with a shrug.

"But…why'd ya invent it?" Loon asked.

"Because I could." Rook replied with a smirk.

"Rook, you're the only person who'd do that." Lunatic stated.

"I know. That's why I'm awesome." Rook said.

"How does this thing work?" Kitty asked, picking it up.

"Just press that red button and you're gone." Rook replied.

"Oh." Kitty replied, looking over the device. She tapped the red button.

Immediately, a giant, blue portal opened up and the three screamed in terror before getting sucked in.

Fanfiction Dot Net presents…

_From TLSoulDude Production…_

_Author Fighters: Dark Age_

_Starring James Arnold Taylor, Franks Frankson, Michelle Ruff, Ryan Reynolds, Val Kilmer, Vic Mignonga, Dakota Fanning, Ben Diskin, Corbin Bleu, Scottie Ray, and Derek Steven Prince._

_Concept by JC 619…_

The three nutjobs screamed as they were spewed out of the portal in the middle of an abandoned city.

"Now I know what it feels like to be drunk…" Loon groaned.

"DON'T crack that Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy joke." Rook stated.

Lunatic stood up and dusted his jacket before walking over to Kitty and helping her up.

"That was fun." Kitty said.

"FUN—NOT the word I would've chosen." Lunatic said.

"Aw, CRAP!" Rook swore. Right where Kitty landed was a pile of sparking metal, "That'll take WEEKS to repair!"

"Sorry!" Kitty said, quickly, "I thought I was landing…somewhere else."

"So…we're stuck here until you get that device fixed?" Lunatic asked.

"YES." Rook said.

"CONCARN!" Lunatic swore.

"I've gotta find the right parts and fix the device with the power of…" Rook reached for a pair of goggles, but didn't find any. He sighed before simply saying, "You know what."

He then sulked off.

"That guy's weird, but, then again, who am I to criticize?" Lunatic asked.

Little did they know that they were being watched.

"How the heck?" the figure asked.

_So, there's the first chapter of Dark Age. I've got a lot of plans for this. Kindly read, review, and don't flame. Constructive criticism is more than welcome._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: One Twisted Reality

"Well, I can't find the necessary parts." Rook growled as he walked back.

"Sorry!" Kitty said for the hundredth time.

"Kitty, I don't blame ya." Lunatic said (also for the hundredth time), "Sure, you pushed the button that basically warped us here, but you didn't know the device would be busted."

"Hey, do you guys have a feeling like we're being watched?" Rook asked.

"Come to think of it…I do." Lunatic said.

Rook pulled out a pair of pistols and fired.

What got hit?

A bunny…but it only got winged.

"SORRY!" Kitty shouted, running over to the unconscious rabbit, "HE DIDN'T MEAN IT! HE WAS JUST JUMPY!"

"Jeez, ya try to fight something off and what do ya get?" Rook asked.

"Well, we might be tied when it comes to insanity, but it looks like ya win when it comes to paranoia, Rook." Lunatic smirked.

"I resent that." Rook stated. He then looked at the rabbit, "But still…I don't think that a rabbit could cause that much noise."

Kitty waved good-bye to the rabbit as she heard something. She thrust out her hand and a spike made of ice sprung out and impaled a branch on the tree. Something black sprung out and landed on all fours.

It had black skin and razor-sharp teeth.

"Holy heck! That's Venom!" Lunatic exclaimed, "He's one of the best Spider-Man villains EVER! Too bad the movie messed up when it came to him, but it's spilled milk…"

"Loon, knock it off!" Rook snapped as he summoned his Keyblade and charged at the Symbiote.

"Rook?" the creature asked…just in time for the key-shaped sword to collide with his face.

"DIE, WALKING DIARRHEA!" Rook shouted, spastically.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Lunatic screamed as he jumped over and summoned his chakram.

"Uh…guys?" Kitty asked. The two continued trying to fight the Symbiote, who simply thrust out his hand and struck the two full in the chest.

Lunatic made a series of hand-signs, "FIRE-STYLE! FIREBALL JUTSU!"

Lunatic then blew out a burst of fire, which caused the Symbiote to let go.

"Guys." Kitty said, a little louder.

The Symbiote lashed out his hand, sending a series of slimy tentacles to burst out and catch Lunatic. Rook countered by pulling out his pistols and firing into the air. The sound waves caused the tentacles to melt away. Lunatic jumped at the Symbiote with his chakram out-stretched.

"GUYS!" Kitty shouted, causing the ground to frost over.

Lunatic landed next to the Symbiote with a small 'thump' and said, "Whoa. That's new for ya, Kitty. I think my hair's frozen-over…" Lunatic massaged his hair when one of his spikes broke off.

"I was just thinking…if he knows Rook…" Kitty said.

"I was TRYING to talk peacefully with you." The Symbiote growled, "BUT YOU TWO JUST ATTACKED ME!"

"Would it help if I said 'sorry'?" Rook asked, nervously.

"Dunno. Try it out." The Symbiote dared.

"Sorry." Rook simply said.

"No, it DOESN'T." The Symbiote barked, grabbing Rook by the scruff of his jacket and tossing him into the nearest tree.

"Ow…doubt this ever happened to Spoony…" Rook groaned.

The Symbiote snorted before saying, "Out of all the people who could appear, I never thought it would be you three. This could change everything…"

"Just answer ONE question." Lunatic said, calmly, but then shouted, "WHO IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT'S HOLY ARE YOU?"

"You don't recognize me?" The Symbiote asked with a kind of playful sarcasm, "I'm HURT."

The goo around the Symbiote's face retreated to show who he was…

"JC 619?" Lunatic asked. The two had been acquaintances. They were friends, but they didn't really know each other.

"Yeah. Glad to see I'm not that forgettable." JC nodded before the Symbiote engulfed his body.

"Wait…if you've got a Symbiote on you, why do you refer to yourself as 'me' instead of 'we'?" Rook asked, walking over.

"Because this isn't a true Symbiote." JC explained, "It's an artificial one that the mechanics at the FAF made a while ago."

"Which immediately raises the question of WHY you even let it bond with you." Lunatic said.

JC looked over at the slowly setting sun, "I think we'd better find some shelter first."

"HA! If you really WERE JC 619, YOU WOULDN'T DODGE MY QUESTION LIKE-" Lunatic's accusation was cut-off as a black tentacle sprung out of JC's shoulder and wrapped itself around the nutty ninja's mouth.

"THESE are dangerous times. Any human outside's gonna be in trouble." JC stated before releasing Lunatic.

"Y'know, technically, Kitty and I aren't…"

JC's growl shut Lunatic up immediately. The Symbiote host jumped into the air and landed a good distance away. The three nutjobs quickly ran after him.

—

The four made it to a hollow in the center of a dense forest. They sat around in a circle as Lunatic used some of his fire chakra to light a log to make a small fire.

"So…what happened?" Kitty asked.

JC sighed as the Artificial Symbiote retreated from his face again.

"It all started soon after DP's meeting with the Black Berets." JC said, "You three soon vanished. We tried finding you, but couldn't. A week later, Drake attacked our base with a full army of Darkside Warriors. We did pretty well…until DarkPaladinmon tried fighting. But…he was absorbed by Drake."

Kitty's hands flew to her mouth.

"Good Lord…" Rook and Loony said at the same time, looking terrified.

"Because that happened, Drake's power increased dramatically." JC continued, his hand's grip on the ground becoming tighter until her gouged four marks into the soil, "Ranger, Airnaruto, Hikari, Nukid, and D-Dude tried fighting him at the same time. Ranger, Air, and your brother were quickly killed."

What little color remained in Lunatic's face quickly drained.

"I ran to our vault and quickly sealed it tight…but not before bonding with THIS." JC said, pulling his dirt-filled hand up as a visual aid, "We were all forced to run and go into hiding. The Darksides numbers and strength increased, making their whole plot for GS look pointless. Drake quickly took his business to the major cities around the world. Those Black Beret guys tried fighting, but they also suffered heavy casualties. THAT was all within three years. NOW, the Darksides rule ninety-six percent of the world."

"WHAT?" Loon, Rook, and Kitty shouted at the same time.

"I know." JC said, "I'm sickened by it too…but I'm trying to fix it."

"How?" Kitty asked.

"This place we're in?" JC asked. The three looked around, "We're in New Jersey."

"Can't believe it, but it got even WORSE." Loon said. Rook belted him over the head with his Keyblade for that.

"Loon, try not to make controversial jokes like that." The Key-wielding nutcase stated.

"I know someone who MIGHT be able to help us who lives just north of here." JC said.

"Who is it?" Kitty asked.

"One of the Black Berets." JC said, "With hope, he's just as eager to get even with the Darksides as most of what's left of the FAF. He COULD be a valuable asset."

JC stood up and asked, "You three wanna come with? If I get ambushed by the Darksides again, I COULD use the backup."

"Well, since our dimensional portal device is busted, we're kinda stuck here." Rook said, "So, it doesn't look like we've got a choice in the matter."

"I'm in. ANYTHING to kick Drake Ebon Idiot's butt!" Lunatic said with his cocky grin.

"Alright, I'll come too." Kitty said with a small nod.

"We leave in the morning." JC said, falling on his back.

"Is he okay?" Kitty asked, concerned.

Rook walked over and said, "Well, judging by his loud snores…I'd have to say yes."

_Once again, con crit's more than welcome here. Kindly read and review._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A Black Beret

"Lunatic's journal…dunno what month, day, or year." Lunatic said, writing down a journal, "Thanks to Kitty, we've been warped three years into the future…and everything's gone to Hell."

"Loon, I thought you forgave me." Kitty pointed out.

"And apparently, I'm the only way to save this universe." Loon continued.

"I said you three could HELP save it." JC stated, "NOT just you."

"And Rook won't shut up and keeps writing in his journal." Lunatic concluded, "It's getting pretty annoying."

"THAT'S IT!" Rook shouted before belting Lunatic over the head, knocking the Fictorian Ninja out like a light. He took in heavy breaths, but saw JC and Kitty's looks of shock before saying, "What? We were ALL thinking it. I just did it."

—

The group continued on their way through the ruins that was once New Jersey. They had to keep off the roads, but they eventually had to go through Newark. JC advised the other three to cover their faces.

"The Darksides are still hunting Author Fighters. If they recognize you, we'll be in a LOT of trouble." The Symbiote-bonded Author stated.

"Won't it be MORE suspicious if we cover our faces?" Loon asked.

"You'd be surprised how much people do that nowadays." JC said before tossing Loon a hoodie, Kitty a bandanna, and Rook a cowboy hat.

"Jeez, this kinda clashes." Rook murmured as he put it on.

"I dunno. I COULD get used to this." Lunatic said as he put the hoodie on and pulled the hood over his hair.

"Uh…how should I put this on?" Kitty asked.

"Mouth." JC replied as he put on a baseball cap and pulled the lip over his eyes.

"Yee-haw, I guess." Kitty said before doing what JC said.

The group walked through the streets of the city. Darksides were out in broad daylight without fear.

However, a group of Darkside Warriors ran past them and tackled a woman who was just walking down the street. They pulled her up by her hair and immediately began restraining.

"Alright, now THAT'S just wrong!" Lunatic growled as he thrust out his hands, summoning his chakram. He looked ready to charge, but JC grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him along.

"I'm not happy about it either, but there's nothing we can do about it." JC said.

"What will they do to her?" Kitty asked.

"They take any human they can find in for interrogation." JC said in a flat voice, "They're still trying to find what's left of the FAF. That only makes my job harder."

"How many members of the FAF are there?" Rook asked.

"I've found a few." JC replied, "Counting us, we're at ten members."

All three of them felt a dull blow. Out of over twenty members, the members of the FAF had been reduced to ten.

"Why're you searching for this Black Beret?" Rook asked.

"Because SHE said that we needed one more member." JC said.

"Who's 'SHE'?" Loony asked.

JC looked ready to answer, but simply said, "You'll find out. She already knows about you three. I contacted her before we got here."

"How much farther?" Kitty asked.

"Not much. He was last spotted in a forest just out of this city." JC replied.

When they left the city, a group of Darksides looked over.

"Hey, remember one of those guys who was passing by?" he asked.

"Be more specific. A LOT of guys pass." His partner replied.

"The guy with a hoodie." The first one said, "He summoned a set of…spiky discs."

"Chakram." The third one filled in.

"Didn't one of those Author Fighters have those?" the second one asked.

The three then turned to two others—one was muscular and the other had a whip at his side. The two quickly mounted motorcycles and took off.

"Guess that means we've gotta go." The first one said.

—

"WHEW! I can get outta this thing!" Loon exclaimed, pulling his hoodie off, "Do ya know how hot it gets under that while wearing a long-sleeve AND a Chunin jacket?"

"I'm just glad to get rid of this." Rook sighed, tossing away his hat.

"And this bandana's kinda cutting off my oxygen." Kitty said, untying her bandana.

"Just keep those close." JC advised, "If we travel through populated areas, it's best to make sure nobody recognizes you."

"Is it me or has this place been cut down?" Rook asked as he noticed a set of symmetrical stumps.

"Strange. I thought this place was protected as a natural reserve." Kitty said.

"USED to be." JC corrected, "The Darksides pretty much rule the world now. Who knows what it could be like now?"

"Like THIS!" shouted someone.

Five motorcycles sped past the four travelers before turning around.

"I thought I recognized you guys!" the third one shouted, pointing to JC, "You're the one that got away!"

"What?" Lunatic asked.

"Why do you think I know about what they do to humans?" JC simply asked.

The two at the head of the formation removed their helmets to show two familiar faces—

"Holy crap!" Loon swore, "It's the Chaos Dopes, Dopehan and Omadork!"

"It's Chaos DUO, SHRIMP!" Omaddon barked.

"And it's JOHAN and OMADDON!" Johan snapped.

"Hey, I'm allowed to mock your incompetence." Lunatic defended.

"Can he?" Omaddon asked.

"Shaddup, Omaddon." Johan simply said before pulling out his whip, "Now, we can do this the EASY way or the HARD way."

"Aren't both ways the same thing?" Omaddon asked.

"Yeah, but the easy way's faster." Johan said.

"If that's the case, I choose the middle way." Said a voice. Someone jumped out of the forest. He looked wild—his hair was long and wiry and he had a large, bushy beard. However, he wore a black muscle shirt, a pair of black pants, boots, and fingerless gloves. He had a beret perched on top of his head, a set of ninjato attached to his back, and a pistol at his side.

"Who the freak are you?" Johan shouted.

"Someone who's gonna kick ya all over the place." The man replied as he pulled out his ninjato and cracked his neck, "Unless, of course, you're up for diplomacy."

A Darkside pulled out a set of swords. The man sighed.

"Why do they ALWAYS choose the hard way?" The man asked before blocking a blow from the Darkside's sword and slicing his gut open. He pointed his hand at another Darkside and said, "Firaga."

A burst of fire came from his hand and struck another Darkside in the chest before the man pulled out his pistol and shot the third one in the face. He pointed his sword at Johan.

The Darkside lashed out his whip. In a flash of steel, a foot of the whip landed on the ground.

"LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!" Omaddon shouted. The two mounted their motorcycles and drove off.

The man holstered his side arm before sheathing his swords.

"Thanks, sir." JC said, "If it weren't for you, we'd probably be dead now."

The man looked at JC with his electric blue eyes before saying, "Don't get used to it. I only drove them off because they entered this place. NOT to save you. Now get out."

The man turned to leave, but one quickly pulled out one of his ninjato to deflect one of Lunatic's chakram.

"Lunatic!" JC hissed.

"I didn't just walk for days just to get pushed around by some bum!" Lunatic growled as he held out his other chakram, "Now, either you give your reasons for being a jerk, or you won't block the next one."

"You Author Fighters never know when to quit." He muttered, "Fine. Three years ago, y'know that your boss and I had a chat. Things were said that couldn't be taken back. Example: he called me a money-grubbing pig while I called him a stuck-up moron."

Rook simply whistled.

"But, in retrospect, we probably should've tried to talk it out longer." The man continued, "Not long after, Drake took over the world and decimated the Author Fighters. We Black Berets were more than happy to fill their shoes. We did well for a while, but the constant attacks began to wear us out. Eventually, only three of us were left—my two friends, Kin and Spetsyma, and myself. We retreated to this forest and tried to recuperate."

"What do you mean 'tried'?" Kitty asked.

"You saw how part of the forest's been cleared?" the Black Beret asked, "The Darksides plowed through it and killed my two friends. They didn't kill ME for some reason. Maybe they thought I'd be dead soon anyway or they figured I was crushed during the deforestation."

"I can't believe anyone's asked it at this point, but…who are you?" Rook asked.

"Are you Sergeant Marcus Reynol?" JC 619 asked.

"Don't know why you bother with the Sergeant." The man, Reynol, said with a grim smile, "A guy has to have people to command before getting that rank. I KNOW why you're here and my answer is 'no'. The Darksides have won and the ideals of both the Author Fighters AND the Black Berets have faded. Just trying to survive is difficult enough."

"So…that's it?" Lunatic asked, "You're just giving up?"

"Nothing future tense about it." Reynol stated as he turned around to leave.

"Oh, you quit?" Rook asked, "I thought the Black Berets were made of tougher stuff than that! They beat MY group in Deadliest Author!"

"What's left of the FAF's gathered on the edge of New York." JC stated, "In order for ANY of us to survive and do what we did best, toss Drake off his high throne, what's left FAF and Black Berets have to work TOGETHER."

"So, you can either wallow in your self-pity or come out and have the Black Berets give an end that the Darksides won't soon forget." Kitty concluded.

Reynol kept his back to the four, but didn't walk any farther. He then turned around and, when he did, his eyes seemed to be crackling with blue electricity.

"There's a good stock of nonperishable foods in my base not too far from here." He said, "Get me a razor and a pair of clippers. I'm lookin' like a cave-man."

Kitty's face broke into a smile as JC held out his hand.

"So, you're in?" the FAF Member asked.

Reynol clenched JC's hand, "Ya know it. I…kinda forgot about the spirit of the Black Berets."

JC looked at Rook, "So…should we get the supplies?"

"Sure!" Rook replied.

The two took off running, leaving Reynol, Loony, and Kitty in the clearing alone.

"Reynol, I heard that your group helped people for money." Kitty said, nervously, "Is that true?"

"We're not heroes like you Author Fighters." Reynol said, "We're mercs."

"Why's that?" Loon asked, "With your skills, you could help a lot of people."

"Ya see, we Black Berets are different from Author Fighters." Reynol replied, "We were trained to be the silent hand of Shin-Ra. But when Midgar fell, we were outta work. We weren't storeowners, we weren't farmers, and God knows we weren't actors. We trained to only do one thing—FIGHT. So, you guys coming in and telling us to not ask for a few bucks is the equivalent of telling a shopkeeper to give all his stuff for free. The things I told ya I said to DP was actually the nicest of the words we exchanged."

"Oh." Kitty said.

"Got your stuff!" Rook called as he returned with JC.

"Good. So, where's this meeting at?" he asked.

"Like I said, at the edge of New York." JC said.

"Why there?" Loony asked.

"Well, the first FAF Base was there." JC replied.

"Get ready, Darksides." Reynol said with a smirk as he took the clippers and razor from Rook and walked off to the base they just came from, "Your two worst enemies are making a comeback…"

—

?…

In a dark base, Drake was drumming his fingers against each other as Johan and Omaddon explained what happened. Next to the door was, surprisingly enough, GSSpiritDude clad in black military garbs (he still had his green beret, though).

"So, let me go through this ONE more time." Drake said, "You had THREE Author Fighters cornered in a woods in New Jersey?"

"Uh…yeah, sir." Johan said, nervously, "And we killed 'em all! Right on the spot!"

"He's lying." GS said, casually.

"NO I'M NOT!" Johan snapped, "KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT, TRAITOR!"

"Didn't our boys get killed by some bum?" Omaddon asked.

"Shut up, Omaddon." Johan growled.

"Who could that have possibly be?" Drake asked, "I don't think a hermit would be able to take on three Darksides by himself."

"Considering how easy I took on your goons, I'd say it would be pretty easy." GS shrugged.

"When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it." Drake snapped.

"Wasn't that the forest where those Black Beret guys were?" Omaddon asked.

"I thought you two said that no one survived." Drake said.

"Technically, a third body wasn't reported." GS said, jabbing a thumb at the Chaos Duo, "These two just assumed he was killed in the deforestation."

"So, it's possible that one of them survived." Drake said, looking at the Darkside Hedgehog, "Who was the unidentified one?"

"Considering the ones killed were Major Alxander Spetsyma and Lt. Chi-Ling Kin, I think the survivor was Sgt. Marcus Reynol." GS replied.

Drake stood up and slammed his hands on his desk. He then growled at the Chaos Duo, "You two just had two major strikes against you in one day. I suggest you try making up for it. You two are on probation. GS will look after you."

"WHAT?" the two unfortunates shouted at the same time.

"You think I want to be stuck babysitting you two?" GS asked, "I can think of twenty-five things I'd rather do."

"You're dismissed. Just keep a good eye on the New Jersey area." Drake ordered.

The three walked out, GS glaring at Drake for a moment before leaving.

"I've come too close to world domination." Drake growled, clenching a fist around his Darkness Saber, "I won't lose it to a small mistake."

He then sliced a chair in half with one strike. He smirked as he hefted his blade over his shoulder and looked at his left hand.

"But with DarkPaladinmon's power on my side…" he said, triumphantly, "Who could possibly stop me?"

_That's it for chapter three. In the next chapter, we see the other Author Fighters who survived!_

_Sorry it took so long. A blackout wiped out most of the stuff I wrote down and it took me forever to get re-inspired._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Trial by Stamina

Sgt. Reynol looked completely different without his long hair and beard. His face was now in full-view. The only thing that reminded the group that he looked a lot more wild this morning was a bunch of shave cuts on his face. His hair had been reduced to a simple buzz-cut under his beret.

The group of five was trekking across the forest that now covered New Jersey.

"How much longer 'til we get to New York?" Rook asked.

"About a days' walk away from here." JC replied, "Just be happy that security around the forest is minimal."

"You'd think that people would put more guards around a suspicious-looking forest that spontaneously popped up in three years, but you'd be wrong." Lunatic said.

"First, the only threat they thought was here were the remaining Black Berets." Reynol stated, "And since they think we're all dead, they're not looking for us."

"Second, this forest was originally just Central Park." JC said, "Thanks to her magic, though, it's grown larger and the trees grew at an accelerated rate."

"Only good news for that:" Reynol said, "It means more cover."

"Who's 'her'?" Kitty asked.

"I thought I already said you'd meet her when we found her." JC stated.

"Are we there yet?" Lunatic asked.

"Yes, we're meeting the other survivors right now. We're planning to kick Drake's butt right now." Rook said, "What do YOU think?"

—

The next day, the group arrived at a small clearing in the forest. In the center of it was a metal panel with a handle on it.

"That's where you've been hiding?" Rook asked.

"Yeah. The safest place we could think of was underground." JC replied. He walked up to the panel. A small rod with a ball on the top sprung out of the ground.

"IDENTIFICATION, PLEASE." Said a cool, male voice.

"JC 619." JC said. Immediately, three guns sprung from the trees and pointed at the other four, "And four guests."

The guns returned to their trees. The panel opened up and JC walked down a set of stairs that were previously concealed by it.

"Guess we've gotta go down there." Rook said.

Lunatic, Kitty, Rook, and Reynol walked down the stairs. When they vanished into the darkness, the panel closed behind them as the rod returned into the ground.

—

"OW!" Kitty yelped as something stepped onto her foot.

"Sorry!" Lunatic apologized, "It's just dark down here."

The group had been walking down the stairs for…well, they couldn't tell.

"How long are we going to keep walking?" Reynol asked.

"I don't know." Rook replied, "Like the OTHER five hundred and seventy-five times you asked."

Rook suddenly walked, head-long, into a steel door. Immediately following was four people saying 'ow' in rapid succession.

"I was wondering if you'd EVER get down here." JC said.

"Hey, snarky superiority's MY schtick." Reynol snapped, "If you start wearing a military hat, we're gonna have a scrap on our hands."

"Just let us in." Rook sighed.

JC grabbed the handle to the door before pulling it open. Light flooded the room as Lunatic, Rook, Kitty, and Reynol spread out a bit.

It was a simple, baje room with a few couches and tables. Lunatic was about to comment on the coloring when suddenly…

"LOONY!"

Lunatic was bowled over by a familiar, white hedgehog with a golden mane, cowboy boots, hat, poncho, mismatched gloves, a sword strapped to his back, a pair of revolvers to his side, and a patch over his left eye. Despite the single patch, Lunatic could recognize him, no problem.

"Bro?" Lunatic shouted.

It was Lunatic's older brother, TLSoulDude. He grinned as he said, "I thought you'd have died long ago! Thank God you're alive!"

"I told you multiple times that he wasn't dead." Commented a cloaked figure with green eyes and a long scythe, "If he was, I would've known about it."

"DJ?" Lunatic asked.

The hooded figure that was ShadowDJ, apprentice to the Grim Reaper himself, bowed, "At your service."

"TL, you're strangling your brother." Commented Phoenix as she walked in.

"Sorry." TL apologized, releasing Lunatic.

"Phoenix!" Kitty exclaimed as she ran over and hugged her fellow Team Paladin member.

"I was worried sick about ya!" Phoenix grinned.

"Oh, YOU survived." Sighed Nukid as he walked in.

"Hi, Perv-"

"CALL ME PERVKID AND I'M PULLING OUT YOUR VOCAL CHORDS." Nukid snarled.

"Such a nice bunch." Reynol murmured.

"How'd all of these guys survive?" Rook asked.

"TL just got back on Earth a year ago." JC said, "So, he escaped the genocide."

"Had to stop the circle ceremony, though." TL said, "My powers were too easily traced."

"The circle ceremony's something Fictorians are taught if we're ever off-planet." Lunatic explained to Rook's confused expression, "Every year or so, we've gotta make a circle with our own blood to rejuvenate our powers."

"Never saw ya doing it, though." Rook commented.

"I do it when no one's looking. It's…a moment of weakness." Lunatic replied.

"DJ survived by taking refuge in the Underworld." JC continued.

"My boss wasn't happy about me staying there with all the extra business going around." DJ shrugged, "But hey. He learned to live with it."

"Phoenix kept a low profile this whole time." JC continued.

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to out-smart grunt Darksides." Phoenix said with a smirk.

"Same with Nukid." JC said, "He hid out in Britain."

"Darkside rule isn't as strong there." Nukid said, proudly, "Plus, I can take 'em easily!"

"But this isn't Britain." Reynol deadpanned.

"Met this guy five seconds ago and I already hate him." Nukid growled.

"New record, Nukes." Smirked a familiar, purple-haired Pokemorph.

"Ross?" Loon asked before saying, "Of course! Can't let ya die on me without settling our score first!"

"Part of the reason I kept alive." Ross grinned, "I just wanted to kick you all over the place again!"

"Plus Darksides can't comprehend inter-dimensional travel yet." JC said.

"That too." Ross shrugged.

A woman with pure white hair and blue eyes walked in. When Lunatic last saw them, they were soft, shiny. NOW, they were hard and cold.

"Hikari?" Lunatic asked.

Hikari simply continued staring at Lunatic without saying anything.

"Hello? Can ya hear me?" Lunatic asked a little louder.

She simply nodded.

"She hasn't talked since the takeover." JC replied.

"So…she's the 'SHE' you were referring to?" Rook asked.

"Yeah." JC said, "DP getting absorbed by Drake hit her hard."

"Alright, now that we've gathered here, we've got to decide who will lead our group." JC said.

"Wait, aren't you the leader, JC?" Kitty asked.

"Nah. I just went out searching for any other guys who survived." JC replied with a grin, "Any volunteers?"

"I do." Reynol said, "I've led a group of fighters before and I've got a good head on my shoulders."

"Same here." Nukid stated, "I've got more years with you guys than he does AND I've got better powers on my side!"

"Any others?" JC asked. No one responded as he said, "Okay, looks like we're down to a vote."

"No offense, Nukes, but I vote Reynol." TL said, cautiously, "We do need a more military-esque outlook on this situation."

"Just sleep with one eye open." Nukid growled.

"I vote Nukid. He HAS worked with us longer, so he knows what we can do best." Phoenix said.

"You cut me deep." Reynol stated.

"I vote Reynol." DJ said.

"Nukid." Ross said.

"Nukid, for lack of a better option." Lunatic growled.

"Nukid." Kitty said.

"I'm voting Reynol, too." JC said.

"Ray." Rook said.

"Hikari?" JC asked. The Balance simply shook her head, "Looks like she's sitting this one out."

"So, we're at a stalemate?" Nukid and Reynol asked at the same time.

"Looks like it." JC replied, obviously confused, "Didn't think we'd be in this situation. What could we do as a tie-breaker?"

"Y'know, back in the Black Berets, we had something that could easily solve these problems." Reynol stated, "If we had a stalemate, we'd do something to decide the winner. We called it the Trial by Stamina."

"I have a good idea on what this is…" Phoenix murmured.

"We'd basically wail on each other for fifteen seconds each." Reynol said, "The person who got their opponent on the ground the fastest was the winner. I suggest we do that."

"You're on, Blackie." Nukid stated, "I'll get you down in three."

"I'll take that wager." Reynol replied.

"I think we should clear away." TL said, nervously.

The other authors backed away, leaving the former assassin and SOLDIER standing between each other.

"The rules are we each get fifteen seconds to knock the other down." Reynol said, "You also have to keep your strikes above the belt, but below the neck and you're restricted to attacks with your hands. Got it?"

"Yeah, I've got it." Nukid replied.

"Nukid goes first." JC said, acting as referee, "Anyone got a stopwatch?"

"I do!" Rook shouted, pulling out a stopwatch from his pocket.

"You carry a stopwatch in your pocket?" Kitty asked.

"Doesn't everyone?" Rook asked.

"Alright, GO!" JC shouted.

Rook started the stopwatch as Nukid thrust his fist into Reynol's gut. The Black Beret let out a sharp exhale and bent forward slightly, but stood up completely unfazed. Nukid looked in confusion before punching Reynol in the chest before sending multiple strikes at him.

"FALL DOWN, DANGIT!" he growled, "ARE YOU EVEN FEELING ANYTHING?"

"Yeah." Reynol replied, casually between strikes, "I'll probably be feeling it for weeks."

"Fifteen seconds are up." Rook said, clicking his stopwatch.

Nukid was slumped over in exhaustion, "HOW did you do that?"

"I was trained to deal with pain when I joined." Reynol replied, "I was taught to absorb impacts from attacks and not even flinch."

"Alright, now it's Reynol's turn." JC said.

"I bet I can take you down with THIS." Reynol said, holding up his thumb and curling it so the first knuckle stood out.

"I'll take that bet." Nukid growled.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Reynol said.

"START!" Rook shouted as he started his stopwatch.

"BRING IT-"

Before Nukid could finish his sentence, Reynol drove the single knuckle into his gut. For some reason, he let out a yell of pain as he slumped over and clutched his gut.

Reynol leaned down and asked, "Do you know there's a small part just under your rib-case that can cause excruciating pain if hit correctly?"

"Eight seconds." Rook said, stopping the watch, "Looks like Reynol won…"

Reynol stood up and walked over to the group before saying, "Get your things packed up by morning. Tomorrow, we're heading to New York City."

Reynol walked away. Phoenix and Ross helped Nukid to his feet.

"Anything broken?" Ross asked.

"No, but I want that Black Beret's head on a stake…" Nukid replied.

"Hey, Loon." Reynol said before smacking Lunatic over the head.

"OW!" Lunatic yelled before walking over to Nukid and growling, "I know how you feel…"

Kitty looked around the base. Things had changed, drastically, in just three years…

_With apologies to Nukid._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Destination

"Lunatic's journal...I have no idea what date it is." Lunatic said into a recording device, "Reynol the jerkwad just beat Nukid in that Trial by Stamina thing. So, he's in charge. I'm dead meat. He said he has a strategy and he should be telling us by morning."

"Loon, it's already morning." Rook stated.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT INTERRUPTING MY JOURNAL ENTRIES?" Lunatic shouted.

"What's with the yelling?" Kitty asked as she sat up, still half-asleep.

"Nothing." Lunatic replied, hurriedly. He quickly muttered into his device, "This is Lunatic saying that Wildrook is a lesser nutcase than me, but is a big jerk."

"I can hear you!" Rook snapped.

"Crud." Loon swore.

* * *

A few minutes later, Lunatic was tightening the headband his sensei gave him as he cleaned dust from his Chunin jacket. Rook and Kitty were already waiting for him with the other survivors, Hikari and Nukid in the back (the latter was still nursing his pride). Lunatic walked next to TL and DJ, his older brother looking over to grin.

"Still great to see ya, bro." the hedgehog grinned.

"What's the eyepatch?" Lunatic asked.

"Oh, this?" TL asked, putting a finger to the patch, "It's a secret weapon...don't know how I got it, though."

"Guys, Reynol's here." DJ stated.

"Ten HUT. Eyes forward." Reynol barked as he stepped out in front of the group. Everyone straightened up as the Black Beret said, "You know who I am and I know who you are. No introductions required."

"At least he's to the point." Ross said.

"We'll be heading for New York City." Reynol said, "It's a military stronghold in this era and we'll be causin' as much havoc as possible to get enough of Drake's attention for him to come here himself. Any questions?"

"Yes, sir." Phoenix said, raising her hand, "What'll we do when Drake gets here? He's at full power and has DarkPaladinmon's powers, too."

"I've got plans for that." Reynol said, "Confidential. I won't answer until it's time."

"Is destruction really the answer?" TL asked.

"TL, the Darksides have taken over Earth with intimidation, torture, and murder." Reynol said, "We're givin' them a punch in the gut without innocent Darksides getting caught in the crossfire. As I just said, half of the state of New York is reserved for the soldiers who helped Drake take over. Any questions?"

No response came. Reynol nodded before saying, "Good. Start packin'. We move out ASAP."

"This guy's a military nut..." Nukid muttered.

"Possibly certifiably insane." Ross said.

Two small pieces of metal flew across the room and hit both Nukid and Ross.

"And has good hearing." Ray explained.

"Well, off to our old HQ." JC said as he walked over to his quarters, "Well, our older old HQ."

"I'd rather not see what Cali looks like nowadays." Lunatic said, "It was already a dark place when I left..." everyone just stared at the nutty ninja, who sighed before saying, "It's a JOKE."

"Hey, DJ." TL said, stopping the apprentice to the Grim Reaper, "Betcha I can take out more Darksides than you."

"Weren't you the guy asking if we had to go on such a destructive path?" DJ asked.

"Yeah, but who says I'm gonna kill?" TL asked.

"Then you're on." DJ replied with a grin as he bumped knuckles with the Fictorian.

Reynol sat down next to Hikari and said, "Well, we're on our way. If everything goes as planned, you'll get your boyfriend back soon enough." Hikari simply looked at the Black Beret. Ray stared back before saying, sarcastically, "Jeez, you're chatty."

* * *

The small band of authors had left the small base for, what they hoped, would be the last time. However, they'd still have to remain undercover when they got to New York City. Reynol answered this question instantly.

"In case one or more of us got stranged somewhere in the States, we set up small bases in every state and memorized their location." The Black Beret explained, "There, we have a food supply, communication link, and a weapons supply."

"Weapons." Nukid scoffed, smugly.

"Sorry, didn't catch that." Ray said, "Speak up next time."

"A-hole..." Nukid muttered.

"That, I did hear." Ray said before falling behind and smacking Nukid over the head, Gibbs-style.

"OW! I'll get you for that..." Nukid growled.

"Barely fifteen minutes into this and already people wanna kill each other." TL said with a small grin.

"Just like old times." JC nodded.

"By the way, won't people get suspicious of people lugging around huge freakin' weapons?" Rook asked as he tugged on one of the straps holding up his Cross Punisher (which JC had apparently taken with him before Drake's last assault on the FAF).

"Don't worry. In THIS era, carrying weapons is something of a fashion now." JC replied, "Just keep your faces hidden and you'll be fine."

"Sounds easy enough." Ross said as he put on a fisherman's hat over his purple hair.

"Thankfully, I've just gotta hide this." Phoenix said as she slid a pair of gloves over her hands, including her Power Gauntlet.

"I'm just happy I can vanish." DJ said with a casual shrug.

"Ah, the ol' cowboy hat." Rook said, putting the hat on, "It's not even been a week."

"Don't know why you're complaining about cowboy garbs." TL said, smugly, "I've been wearing 'em for the last three years and I've been doing fine."

"If you don't want the Darksides finding you, just keep moving." Reynol said before pulling a black jacket over himself and putting a cap over his beret, "Just get your disguises on while we're moving and drop the chatter."

"The guy's a real slave-driver..." Rook muttered.

"Yeah, we only found him a day ago." Loon growled, pulling his hoody on, "That's gratitude for ya..."

Kitty just gave the two an odd look before tying a bandana around her face.

"Bandanas, next on my list." TL grinned before pulling a cloak over his poncho, concealing his glove and gauntlet.

The authors then began their trek to New York...

* * *

"Sir." GS said as he and the Chaos Duo entered Drake's room...finding him making out with Killer Rose. The Darkside Hedgehog froze in place at this, knowing that he could wind up as a smoking crater.

Drake broke a kiss before asking, "What do you want?"

"Should we come back at another time?" GS asked.

"Hey, what're we waitin' for?" Johan asked.

"Just be sure it's important." Drake stated.

"We searched the forest where these two claimed the Authors and Black Beret were." GS said, "We found an abandoned base there, but it's abandoned. We think that it's about two days since people were there."

"Then, use your heads." Drake said, coolly, but obviously irritated.

"Alright, we'll get some troops and sweep the surrounding area." GS said, throwing up his hand in a (reluctant) salute before leaving with the two following.

"You trust that terrorist?" Ino asked.

"Of course not. But I DO have an insurance policy where he's concerned." Drake answered, "And with that in had, he's as loyal as any dog." He then looked at Killer Rose with a smirk before asking, "Now, where were we?"

* * *

Two days after the start of their journey, the Authors arrived at New York. Dark and intimidating, it was hard to believe that this was once America's most prosperous city.

"I know. It's not easy." JC said as he noticed Kitty's wide eyes at that.

"Two days of almost nonstop marching in cowboy boots..." TL murmured, "My feet are killing me."

"The base we need isn't too far from Central Park." Ray explained, "Just a bit more and we'll rest for the night. Tomorrow, the REAL work begins..."

"Thank goodness." Lunatic sighed.

"FREEZE." Came a hard voice as the sound of guns being loaded filled the air.

"TL, watch it." DJ said, grabbing TL by the shoulder.

"Hey, what the-"

Before TL could finish, both he and the imp vanished.

"Turn around." The voice said.

The group did and Lunatic saw that the one in the lead was a gray hedgehog wearing a green jacket and a beret and was holding an AR-15 Armalite.

"GS?" Lunatic asked.

"Shut it." He ordered, "We've been tracking some fugitives and deduced they were coming THIS way. You will now be inspected."

Every member raised their hands. GS walked over them and quickly brought his hand to Ross, searching him. He then grabbed the Pokemorph's hat and pulled it off, revealing his violet hair. His dark blue eyes widened as he pulled out a photo.

"Roscoso, Deoxys Pokemorph." GS said, putting away his Armalite and pulling out a Glock 19, "Drake's given us specific orders for you—kill on sight." He then looked over the other authors and said, "Men, kill them."

"Coordinates to the base are here." Reynol murmured, pulling a slip of paper out of the pocket in his jacket and held it out.

DJ and TL reappeared as GS pointed his gun to his counterpart.

"Never thought I'd be seeing YOU." The former IRA Agent stated.

"Feeling's mutual, my doppleganger." TL replied, casually. DJ thrust the paper at TL, who began to glow with a pink light, "CHAOS CONTROL!"

The group vanished in an explosion of light.

GS snarled before pulling out a phone and growling, "Get me Drake NOW."

* * *

In a flash of light, the group was inside a dark bunker. TL slumped to the side, trying to catch his breath.

"That's...the most...I'll be doing...for a while..." the Fictorian panted.

"That's also the power you've been storing up." DJ said, "Way to conserve energy over three years."

"Well, this is it." Reynol said as he fumbled around the the dark, but gave off a triumphant 'ah-ha' before flicking a switch on, causing a dim light to fill the room.

It was filled with about five bunks, one large table, a medical kit strapped to a wall, a telephone, and a large book case.

"Dude, what's with the book case?" Loony asked.

"Even Black Berets need reading material." Ray replied.

"So, this is our home for the duration of this mission?" Phoenix asked.

"Yep." Reynol replied, "Make yourselves' comfy. We've got enough supplies to last about three weeks, so first thing in the morning, we're getting to business."

"That's real comforting..." JC mumbled as he got onto one of the bunks and laid down.

"Now, to rest." Reynol said, "Three more of you get bunks. However, those three won't include Nukid or Lunatic."

"WHAT?" the two shouted.

Reynol pulled himself onto the top bunk and was asleep within five seconds.

"Lousy jarhead..." Nukid growled.

"Stuck-up jerkwad..." Lunatic growled.

"Sounds like someone has anger issues." Phoenix said as she got onto one of the bunks.

"It's preferable to sleeping on the floor..." DJ sighed as he walked over to the bottom bunk and laid down.

Hikari remained silent as she got onto the bunk just above DJ.

"Hey, if it helps, I'm sleeping on the floor." TL said as he pulled out some sleeping mats.

"Only because every other bunk's taken..." Lunatic muttered as he flopped down on his own.

"He's got ya there, Soul." Ross shrugged before laying down.

Kitty laid down next to Lunatic and Rook before asking, quietly, "What're we doing here?"

"Trying to toss Drake off his throne, what do you expect?" Lunatic replied, grumpily.

"But why? Shouldn't we be looking for a way back to our own time?" Kitty asked.

"HOW? Our portal device was totaled and we've got no replacement parts." Rook answered. A small pebble then hit his head, to which he yelped, "OW! WHO DID THAT?"

A hand raised from the top bunch.

"Reynol..." Lunatic murmured, "What do you want?"

There was the sound of something being scribbled down on paper as a paper airplane was tossed from Ray's bunk and landed in Lunatic's hair. Kitty pulled it out and unfolded it. Lunatic leaned over so he could read it.

'You help us get out of this situation, and I'll help you get back to your time.'

"Boy, he sure did take that awful well." Lunatic said.

"But if he goes by his promise..." Kitty said, "We've got no choice other than to help him out."

"How do we know he's telling the truth?" Rook asked.

"We don't." Lunatic replied, "But what other choice do we have?"

'Didn't I just say that?' Kitty thought before saying, "Let's head back to bed. We've got a long and hard time ahead of us..."

"Good point." Lunatic said as he rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes.

* * *

"So, you found some Authors in New York?" Drake asked on a phone.

"_Yeah, but you've gotta do something about your service."_ GS' voice replied, _"It took me hours to get connected."_

"Where were they?" Drake asked.

"_Just outisde the state borders. One of them warped them away, so they could be halfway across the country by now."_ GS reported.

"I doubt it." Drake said, "They didn't come here from New Jersey for nothing. They're up to something, I feel it in my gut."

"_What're your orders?"_ GS asked.

"Keep a vigil there." Drake said, a dark look spreading across his face, "I have business with an old...acquaintance of mine."

Drake then hung up.

"Sometimes, I wonder why I didn't kill that psychopath when I had so many chances to." Drake mumbled as he swung his trench coat on and walked out of his room, leaving Killer Rose in the bed alone.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: First Strike

"Everybody up!" Reynol ordered. When no one responded, he pulled out an M1911 pistol, loaded it, and fired it in the air.

Sure enough, the gunshot got everyone up in a second.

"I SURRENDER!" Phoenix screamed, hands flying up.

"I DIDN'T DO IT, OFFICER, I SWEAR!" Rook yelled, bolting up.

"What were you dreaming about?" Lunatic asked, suspiciously.

"Nothing." Rook immediately said.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, it's the day of our first strike." Reynol said, pacing across the room, looking at everyone with his electric blue eyes, "I want you all armed and ready to move out yesterday. Got it?"

"Yes, SIR!" everyone replied.

"Oh man, I had plans for that day..." TL mumbled.

Within ten minutes, the band of authors was armed and exited the headquarters.

"What makes you think they won't just follow us?" Nukid asked.

"The fact that our HQ is under the last place the Darksides would EVER look." Reynol replied. Everyone looked back to see that they headquarters seemed to be located in a place just below a diner with a sign that said 'The Buzzing Sign Diner'.

"Well, that explains a lot." DJ shrugged.

It was late at night. Clearly before the first hour of morning. Everyone would still be asleep. Though it probably wouldn't be for long.

"TL, could ya use your secret weapon to check out the area?" DJ asked.

"I guess so." TL said, grabbing his eye patch.

"He's been hinting at that for weeks, FINALLY we get to see it." Phoenix said, excitedly.

TL removed the patch and placed it just above his forehead. His other eye wasn't the ocean blue the left eye was. It was pale with no pupils. Immediately, the skin around his eye tightened as veins pulsed through it.

"All clear, guys." TL reported.

"Excellent." Reynol said, "Our first plan is..." the former-SOLDIER pulled out a few charges, "Blow up a building."

"Isn't this leaning towards terrorism?" Kitty asked.

"An ABANDONED one on the edge of town." Reynol added, "I have to draw the line SOMEWHERE. But if some Darksides get in the way...I don't think I need to explain."

"Sounds good." Rook said, grabbing the Cross Punisher in the machine gun position.

"DJ, TL, you guys stay here and keep a look-out." Reynol said, "Keep quiet, though."

"Roger." DJ said, saluting.

"Rook, Ross, and Kitty will provide covering fire." Reynol continued, "JC, Phoenix, and I will set the charges."

"What about me?" Nukid asked.

"AND me." Loon added.

"Well, we need more supplies, so..."

"YOU MEAN YOU BROUGHT US HERE JUST TO BE ERRAND BOYS?" the two shouted in unison.

"Basically." the former SOLDIER replied, coolly.

"You're making it so much easier for me to punch you, you know that?" Nukid growled.

"Personally, I've dealt with your punches." Sarge Ray replied, "We move NOW."

The selected authors took off after the Black Beret, leaving TL, DJ, Loon, and Nukid behind.

"Leave US behind, will he?" Nukid muttered, "Miserable bas-"

"May I ask you NOT to use that kind of language?" TL asked with a shaky grin.

"Maybe I should be more like you and use gibberish." Nukid stated, sarcastically.

"Hey, bro, where'd you get that Byakugan?" Loon asked.

"Oh, THIS?" TL asked, pointing at his eye, "I...don't know. It's just there."

"TL, take a break, I'll check things out myself." DJ said before fading into the darkness.

"Good idea." TL said, even though DJ was gone. He put the patch over his Byakugan and laid back.

Meanwhile, the operation was going smoothly for the authors planting the charges. Reynol placed two on the top floor, Phoenix placed two on the middle floor, and JC placed two in the basement.

"Alright, time to clear out." Reynol stated. He immediately took off running along with JC and Phoenix.

"Hey, what about Hikari?" Phoenix asked.

"Oh crap." JC swore.

"I know." Reynol growled as he changed directions.

Hikari tried following the members setting the charges, but upon realizing that she wasn't given any orders, she stopped in confusion, not sure whether to go back or wait for the others. She heard a gun being loaded and a barrel poking the back of her neck.

"Hikari Ino, Queen of the Balances." GS' voice said, "To be captured, not killed. Any other Author has the 'kill on sight' label. Why don't you?"

Hikari gave no answer.

"Don't feel like answering?" GS asked before saying, "Fine. You can talk in a holding cell."

"Hey!" called Ross as he sped over and tackled the Darkside hedgehog away. GS did a back-flip and regained his composure as he saw Ross in a cat-like position. The Pokemorph stood up and cracked his knuckles, "If you wanna get Hikari, you need to go through me."

"With pleasure." GS said as he reached into his jacket pockets. His left arm pulled out a device and hurled it at Ross.

The Pokemorph had a second to realize that it was an IED, improvised explosive device. He tried running, but GS already pressed the detonator. A barrage of shrapnel buried itself into the Pokemorph's back. Hikari made a silent gasp as Ross fell to the ground with blood pouring out.

"You've got more than just him, punk." Rook said as he opened-fire with his Cross Punisher. GS thrust out his left hand and a pale blue barrier appeared before flying towards Rook, sending him flying.

"I'm here, too!" Kitty shouted, thrusting out her hand and sending out a lance of pure ice. GS thrust out his right hand and the ice immediately evaporated.

"Transfiguration." GS said, "I turned your ice into water vapor."

"I've got more than that." Kitty said, sending out a blizzard of ice spikes.

GS did a combat roll and used alchemy to change his Glock pistol. It now had a gold-covered barrel with a red dragon spiraling down the handle.

"TWILIGHT DRAGON!" GS shouted, pulling the trigger. Instead of a bullet, a gold dragon head made of pure energy erupted from it. It sped towards Kitty and hit her, full-on. The dragon girl tumbled away before landing in a heap.

Hikari remained completely still, looking horrified at what was happening.

"Now, you're coming with ME." GS said, pulling out his trench knives and changing it to a pair of handcuffs. He snapped them onto Hikari before leading her away.

BANG!

GS barely dodged a bullet and wheeled over to see Sgt. Reynol holding a smoking Sig SAUER.

"You injure three of my men, try and capture another, and you expect us to just lie down and let you walk?" Reynol asked.

"Don't make me force you to." GS answered, pointing his Glock at the former SOLDIER.

"But there's ONE problem." Phoenix said as she summoned her Firebird Keyblade.

"You're dealing with three at once." JC said as his pseudo-Symbiote spread over his body.

"And you'll be dealing with THESE." GS said. He shot three bullets in the air and a group of twenty Darksides appeared, "Attack!"

The Darksides charged. Sgt. Reynol fired with his pistol, but ran out of bullets after killing one.

"Crap, I forgot these guys are hard to kill." The Black Beret cursed as he holstered his gun and pulled out his set of katana before slashing at them.

JC jumped into the trees and out of sight. The Darksides looked around, warily, as they tried to spot him. However, their target sprung down and grabbed one of their number with his mouth and vanished into the trees again.

"GRAVITY!" Phoenix shouted. A dark orb erupted from her Keyblade and flattened a group of the Darksides. She then pounded the ground with her glove and send hunks of earth flying. She looked up and called, "JC, stop the monster movie approach!"

"Sorry! Couldn't help myself!" JC answered before landing between the remaining Darksides and sent tendrils of his costume flying out, sending the Darksides flying.

"How did TL miss those?" Reynol asked as he ran a Darkside through and removed his blood-stained sword. He looked around to find GS, but quickly realized they wouldn't find him. He growled before sheathing his blades. He looked at JC and Phoenix before saying, "Get the injured out of here. NOW."

JC and Phoenix ran to their injured friends. JC put Rook and Ross on his shoulders while Phoenix hefted Kitty up in a fireman's carry. They walked off as Sgt. Reynol lagged behind with the detonator in hand.

"Consider this a message, Drake." Reynol said, putting his thumb on the trigger, "We're not laying down anymore."

He pressed it. All the bombs they placed inside the building exploded, levelling it in an instant.

The three undamaged members arrived at the resting spot for the scouts/errand boys.

"So, how'd it go?" TL asked.

"As good as it looks like." Phoenix replied.

"That bad?" DJ asked.

"GS turned up, beat up these three, captured Hikari, and took off." JC stated.

THAT got TL's attention. The hedgehog jumped up and immediately said, "We've gotta help her! Who knows what the Darksides are doing to her?"

"Stand down." Reynol stated, "I'll go after her myself. JC, you're in charge until I get back."

The Black Beret sprinted back to the spot where they saw GS. He lost allies to the Darksides in the past. He wouldn't let that happen again. He had a secret weapon of his own...

The other Authors trudged back to the Buzzing Sign Diner and entered the secret passageway to their bunker (which was under the dumpster).

"It's just day one and things are already looking bad..." DJ murmured as he helped place Rook on a bunk.

"We have to work on Ross." JC said, "NOW."

The Authors immediately began hurrying about, trying to keep their fallen comrade from death's door. At the same time, each of them wished that Dimensiondude was still alive.

Meanwhile, in a building not far away, Drake entered a room to see that every wall was riddled with bullet holes. He looked around with disdain. Why did he have to crawl to this person?

"Greetings!" said a voice. Drake saw a short person with spiky, blue hair with orange tips, brown eyes, and a large smirk on his face.

"Face." Drake simply said.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of having the company of the guy who let psychos like me run free in this world?" The Face asked, pulling out an UZI and looking down the sights.

"You remember the Author Fighters?" Drake asked.

"Barely, considering your new methods." The Face replied before loading a fresh magazine into it and firing at a poster of Twilight: Eclipse. He blew down the barrel and said, "I do the world a favor after all the destruction I cause."

"What about Lunatic121?" Drake asked.

The Face froze before asking, "What about the person I REALLY want to rip apart after defeating me in such a humiliating manner?"

"I hear from my sources that he's back and in New York." Drake explained, "I want you to go in and...help my cause. I'm willing to pay you two hundred dollars a day."

"Drake, Drake, Drake." The Face sighed before saying, "When you brought up Lunatic, you sealed the deal. It's not about the MONEY, it's about...being the way I am."

(I do not own this song. Voltaire does.)

The Face: _**When the Devil is too busy  
And Death's a bit too much  
They call on me by name you see,  
For my special touch.**_

The Face made a sweeping bow. Drake stood there. He always enjoyed a bit of music.

The Face: _**To the Gentlemen, I'm Miss Fortune  
To the Ladies, I'm Sir Prize  
But call me by any name  
Any way it's all the same**_

The Face pulled out his Rotary Blades and slashed through a destroyed sofa.

The Face: _**I'm the fly in your soup  
I'm the pebble in your shoe  
I'm the pea beneath your bed  
I'm a bump on every head**_

The Face pulled out a Makarov and began shooting the (even more) destroyed sofa.

The Face: _**I'm the peel on which you slip  
I'm a pin in every hip  
I'm the thorn in your side  
Makes you wriggle and writhe**_

The Face's iconic smirk stretched even wider, making it look like his own mouth was trying to rip his head in half.

The Face: _**And it's so easy when you're evil  
This is the life, you see  
The Devil tips his hat to me  
I do it all because I'm evil  
And I do it all for free  
Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need**_

Drake smirked. The Face never ceased to amuse him in this era...mostly because any fear that the psychopath would off him was nothing more than a bad memory.

The Face: _**I pledge my allegiance, to all things dark  
And I promise on my damned soul  
To do as I am told, Lord Beelzebub  
Has never seen a soldier quite like me  
Not only does his job, but does it happily.**_

The Face began pouring some green liquid into a set of circular, metallic balls. He tossed one up and down before putting them on his belt and putting several guns into holsters located on various parts of his abdomen, shoulders, and legs.

The Face: _**I'm the fear that keeps you awake  
I'm the shadows on the wall  
I'm the monsters they become  
I'm the nightmare in your skull  
I'm a dagger in your back  
An extra turn upon the rack  
I'm the quivering of your heart  
A stabbing pain, a sudden start.**_

_**And it's so easy when you're evil**_  
_**This is the life, you see**_  
_**The Devil tips his hat to me**_  
_**I do it all because I'm evil**_  
_**And I do it all for free**_  
_**Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need**_  
_**And I do it all for free**_  
_**Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need**_  
_**And I do it all for free**_  
_**Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need**_

He then turned to Drake with a surprisingly sad look on his face. His lower lip quivered as he continued.

The Face: _**It gets so lonely being evil  
What I'd do to see a smile  
Even for a little while  
And no one loves you when you're evil  
**_

"You're not serious." Drake said.

In an instant, the Face's sad look was replaced with his insane smirk.

The Face: _**I'm lying through my teeth!  
Your tears are all the company I need**_

"So, that's a yes?" Drake asked.

"It couldn't have been anything else." The Face answered before bursting into psychotic laughter.

_I just HAD to make the Face sing that (albeit abridged) song._


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Complications

GS led Hikari through the doorway of a large building. He took her directly to an elevator and pressed a button that took them to one of the basement levels. During this whole ordeal, Hikari didn't say a word, but kept looking at the Darkside hedgehog.

The two soon arrived in the third basement. GS led the Balance to a large, glass room. He then shoved Hikari down onto a chair with a table a few inches in front of it. He pulled out his Glock pistol and pointed it at her.

"Normally, this is where I threaten to put your brains on the wall." GS said. He then put the safety back on his pistol before shoving it into the holster on his belt, "But be thankful that, when it comes to Darksides, I'm not normal. Now then, I have you here for about an hour. Where are your friends hiding?" Hikari didn't answer. GS sat down in a chair adjacent to Hikari's and made a steeple with his fingers, "Not talking? Well, I think I can get something out."

—

Outside, a group of four Darkside soldiers were standing guard in front of the door that led inside of the building. They were carrying either black poleaxes or AK-47s and were standing rigidly in position. They heard something hit the ground and raised their guns.

"Firaga." A low voice said. A fireball flew out and hit the first one with an AK-47. Immediately, a man wearing a black beret on his head lunged out with two ninja swords drawn, which he plunged into the first one with a poleaxe. He jumped over to the second one carrying a poleaxe and managed to disarm him with a few quick strikes to the shoulder area. He grabbed the soldier and wheeled him in front just as the second one with an AK opened-fire on him. All the bullets went into the unfortunate Darkside that the Black Beret had disarmed and was using as a meat shield.

Sgt. Reynol then tossed the body at the Darkside, who immediately fell under the combined weight.

"Lemme see that." Reynol said, pulling the AK free from the Darkside's grasp. He grabbed the clip before pulling it out and tossing it away, "AK-47—reliable, powerful rounds, and easy to get your hands on. If your boss could afford these, you'd think he'd be able to get American models. The AK's good, but I personally can't say no to a good ol' American M-series..."

"What do you want?" the Darkside asked, fearfully.

Reynol rolled the corpse off the Darkside before grabbing him by the collar and heaving him up.

"You guys recently brought in a Balance. I wanna know where she is." The former SOLDIER stated, "Care to show me where she is?"

—

The group quickly shoved the various objects on a table off before placing Ross on it. They turned him over to show his bleeding back.

"This'd be so much easier with D-Dude." JC muttered.

"I can use magic, you know." Phoenix said as she summoned her Keyblade. She held it up before saying, "HEAL."

Green lights surrounded the injured Pokemorph. The bleeding stopped as new skin grew out, pushing out the shrapnel.

"Well, glad to see that crisis was averted." TL said, cheerily.

"But we've still got three of our guys unconscious." DJ stated.

"I don't think it's anything serious." JC said, "A few bruised ribs, possibly a few concussions, but I don't think it's anything major."

"Now what?" Lunatic asked.

"We wait until Reynol comes back, that's what." JC said.

—

In the building, GS was still doing his best to interrogate Hikari. His efforts were proving fruitless as the Balance still refused to so much as open her mouth.

"I have to give you props—you're a tough nut to crack." GS stated before asking, "What if I told you you're looking in the wrong place? What if I said I know exactly where Drake is?"

Hikari looked up and stared at GS with wide eyes.

"Yeah, Drake's nowhere near New York." GS said, "I've just been given orders to be here. Truth is, he hasn't set foot in this state for over two years." Hikari kept opening and closing her mouth, letting out small breaths while she was at it, "Speak up a bit."

"Where...is...he?" Hikari asked in a weak voice. Her hands flew to her mouth. She hadn't spoken in years until this very point. Why? Hope that she could save her love?

"Nice to see you can speak." GS said, cooly, "And he's in Los Angeles, California. I don't know what he's doing there, though. Now, I gave YOU some information, now it's your turn. Where are your author friends hiding?"

"How about right here?" asked a familiar voice. GS wheeled around just in time to see a black, fingerless glove hit him right in the face. The Darkside hedgehog was sent tumbling as Sgt. Reynol walked over to Hikari.

"Reynol-san?" Hikari asked.

"Now, you talk?" Reynol asked as he pulled out his (blood-stained) ninjato out and slashed through the chains holding the Balance's hands to the table, "This day's just full of surprises."

"How'd you get here?" Hikari asked.

"Got some info from a guard." Reynol said, "Tried getting the jump on me when I had my back turned. Don't have to explain what happened."

"Th-there's something you should know." Hikari said.

"Not now, we've gotta get goin'." Reynol interrupted, taking off. He looked back at Hikari and asked, "You coming or not?"

Hikari started running after the ex-SOLDIER out of the building and into the elevator.

—

The other Authors were sitting around the underground bunker. Lunatic was sitting at the bedsides of Rook and Kitty, his two friends out like lights. JC was pacing back and forth as TL kept watch with his Byakugan eye. The white hedgehog suddenly stiffened before looking over at the others.

"We've got company!" he shouted.

BOOM!

An explosion created a hole in the ceiling. A small figure fell through and stood up with a feral smirk. From his blue hair to his insane smirk, everyone knew the sight of The Face—one of the most notorious serial killers the FAF had the misfortune of fighting.

"Hello, Authors." He greeted, "After all the mayhem I caused in this city years ago, I don't think introductions are necessary."

"How'd you find us?" JC demanded as his pseudo-Symbiote quickly engulfed his body.

"Quite simple, really." The Face replied as he pulled out a mini-UZI, "Imagination River energy is extremely easy to track if you know how."

"But, I haven't performed the ceremony in MONTHS." TL said, "How could-"

"CRAP!" Lunatic swore, "My IR energy's still at full power!"

"Why do I have the feeling that THIS is how Drake found out about your race?" Nukid asked.

"Now, I've been asked by Drake to brutally murder all of you." The Face said, loading a clip into the submachine gun he already had in hand, "Any objections?" JC snarled, Lunatic summoned his chakram, Phoenix held her Keyblade in a battle-ready position, Shadow-DJ held up his scythe, and Nukid cracked his knuckles. The Face smirked as he opened-fire after saying, "I hoped as much!"

—

Sgt. Reynol and Hikari Ino ran out into the streets where storm clouds had gathered. Thunder roared through the sky as a shower began to roll through the city.

"Just hope we can get back soon enough, this has been a rough enough day as it is." Reynol stated. The two continued running before coming to a halt.

"I...I thought he was on the other side of the country." Hikari said, fearfully.

"And I thought all Black Berets were dead. Life's full of surprises."

Standing in front of them, from his dark trench coat to his dark blue skin, was Drake Ebon Darkstar. The leader of the Darksides and current ruler of over ninety percent of the world.

_Sorry this took so long to get up. Just me being lazy (as usual). Once again, read, review, and don't flame but con crit is more than encouraged._


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Dual Strike

Drake Darkstar stood in front of the Black Beret and Balance with a malicious look in his eyes. Hikari stood with a confused look as Sgt. Reynol had a look of pure defiance.

"Sergeant Marcus Reynol, I presume?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, I am." Reynol replied.

"I-I thought you weren't in New York." Hikari said.

"He's not." Reynol stated, "Look closely."

Hikari activated her Sharingan and looked at Drake. Indeed, something didn't seem right. He seemed slightly shorter than she remembered.

"He's a copy?" Hikari asked. Her eyes changed back and suddenly went wide, "He's using Sempai-kun's magic!"

"Bingo." Drake replied, pulling out his Shadow Saber, "I'm feeling a bit sporty, so you have the chance to fight me."

"Hikari, you get outta here." Reynol said as he pulled his twin ninjato from their straps on his back.

"Reynol-san..."

"That's an order." Reynol stated, "If I don't come back, hey, I go out the way I want to."

"You'll come back alive." Hikari said, running away. As she did so, she said in a low voice, "I'll make sure of it."

The Darkside and Black Beret stood in front of each other, not moving, instead pointing their blades at each other.

"You Black Berets amaze me." Drake stated, "You defied me. If you remember, I gave you the opportunity to join me. Heck, I even offered you money."

"Hey, we need money, but we're not morally bankrupt." Reynol replied, "No joke intended."

"You, me? We're not so different." Drake said, "We both want what's best for our kinds and are willing to do anything for it."

"I'm not." Reynol replied, tightening his grip on his swords, "I don't kill people. Everything I'm doing right now was to avoid collateral damage."

"Well, congratulations on that." Drake said with a smirk. He then vanished into thin air. Reynol quickly spun around just in time to stop an oncoming Shadow Saber, "You made a big mistake by coming here."

"Well, so did you." Reynol said, slashing with his free ninjato, barely missing Drake, "You came in contact with a ticked off ex-SOLDIER."

Drake sprung back before letting out a Dark Shot. Reynol back-flipped over the strike before tossing one of his swords in the air.

"FIRAGA!" he shouted, sending a fireball at Drake.

"Materia implants?" Drake asked as he sent a burst of dark electricity at the fireball, disintegrating it.

"Yeah, all us Black Berets have 'em." Reynol replied before catching his ninjato and jumping at Drake, spinning in mid-air with blades outstretched. Drake put his Shadow Saber right in the path of the oncoming blades.

Drake pulled his hand back as black chakra gathered in it, "DARK CHIDORI!"

Electric chakra chirruping like a thousand birds hit Reynol full in the chest before sending the ex-SOLDIER flying. He smirked before putting his Shadow Saber into its sheath. That guy wasn't so tough. He suddenly froze as he heard something flying towards him. He saw another fireball coming straight at him. He did an airborn sommersault to evade it and glared up at a tall building. He couldn't see it, but he could tell that the Black Beret was up there.

"Why won't this guy just die?" the Darkside leader growled to himself before glowing with an aqua-green aura and jumping up a tremendous height.

At the top of the building, Sgt. Reynol saw Drake's fast ascent. He jumped out of the way just as Drake began falling down with a drop-kick ready. The portion of the sky-scraper cracked and broke off like a pile of LEGO blocks. Drake landed just a yard in front of Reynol with an intense look.

"Holy crap." Reynol simply said.

Drake thrust out his hand and sent a burst of digital magic at the Black Beret. Reynol blocked the strike as best he could, but to no avail. He was sent flying backwards and landed in a heap. He quickly rolled to the side before hurling one of his ninjato at the lead Darkside, who evaded the throw, but not enough to avoid his shirt and jacket getting torn.

"You DO know that I let that rip my shirt on purpose, right?" Drake asked.

"Figured as much." Reynol replied before sheathing his remaining sword. He cracked his knuckles and his neck before jumping into the air and delivering a drop-kick. Drake evaded that strike just in time to get swept off the ground, "But I've also got about ten different martial arts pounded into my skull."

Drake jumped up and threw out a punch. Reynol caught it before catching the next oncoming fist. The ex-SOLDIER then drove his face into Drake's, making them both cringe in pain.

"That didn't go according to plan..." Reynol murmured.

"Well, how about you try this?" Drake asked, sending another Dark Shot at Reynol. The ex-SOLDIER got out of the way before pulling out a combat knife.

"Dodge THIS." Reynol said as he hurled the knife at Drake in a spinning motion. Drake evaded the strike, but the blade nicked his cheek.

"That HURT." Drake stated before summoning his Shadow Saber again.

"More of this, huh?" Reynol asked, pulling out his ninjato and holding it in both hands.

Thunder roared and lightning struck. With every flash, the two clashed blades again. Once, twice, thrice. The two struck blades hard enough that the steel was close to completely shattering. The two were panting from pure exhaustion now as the rain began to come down harder. Reynol looked past Drake's shoulder and saw his second ninjato embedded in the concrete edge of the sky-scraper. If he could get it, it could turn the tide of the battle.

"FIRE!" Reynol shouted, sending a far smaller fireball at Drake as he quickly ran just behind it. The fireball was a distraction while he got his remaining sword. He jumped towards it, hand outstretched to grab the awaiting hilt.

His fingers just made contact when he felt a sharp pain in his arm, five inches above the elbow. Red liquid gushed from it as he saw Drake's Shadow Saber go straight through the bone and tissue, sending a torrent of blood gushing out. He saw the majority of his arm cling to the sword before dropping off, thrashing wildly as the last commands from his nervous system coursed through it.

He looked down at the bleeding stump that used to be his arm and scowled. He had let his guard down for that one precious second and now, everything was lost.

"DARK CHIDORI!" Drake roared, sending a fistful of dark electricity into the Black Berets' chest. It exploded into Reynol and sent him flying off the building and straight into the lake in the center of Central Park. He smirked. No way that ANYONE could survive that. There were few Darksides that COULD.

Reynol landed in the water with a bone-shattering splash. Though Black Berets were drilled to block out pain, he opened his mouth and let out a yell as he felt half of his ribs, his hip, and collar shatter like glass. As if making up for the years they've been ignorned, all of his nerve endings were screaming in pain. He quickly pulled himself together. He was in pain, but definitely alive...but he needed to get out of the water or else that would soon change. He swam to the nearest shore as best he could with one arm missing as he dragged himself into the grass, coughing up blood. The lack of the precious fluid caused him to become light-headed. He staggered up, wobbily, and quickly clutched his bleeding stump. He slowly staggered in the direction he hoped the base was located.

—

The Face opened-fire with his Mini-UZI. The Authors that were still conscious quickly got out of the way of the fast-moving bullets. Lunatic hurled his chakram at his psychotic counterpart, who evaded the strike before activating his rotary blades and swinging them around to block the oncoming Phoenix and TL. He spun around, sending them flying before holding out the hand with the three-point star tattoo.

"How about a little extra strength?" The Face asked before prodding the top point, which glowed bright blue. He thrust out his fist just as Nukid sprang over.

"SHIGAN!" Nukid shouted, thrusting out his finger just as fast as the Face could shoot bullets. The Face's fist hit the oncoming finger, making an audible crack and blood spurt out. The hit had simultaneously broken the former assassin's finger and made a wound right through the Face's middle finger.

"Well, guess there won't be much bird flipping for me." The Face shrugged before pulling out a Saiga and firing at DJ, who quickly vanished.

"RANYAKU!" Nukid shouted, sending a powerful kick that sent The Face into the book shelf. It quickly splintered as he hit it.

The Face remained still before giggling, then chuckling, then going into all-out insane laughter.

"I HAVEN'T HAD THIS MUCH FUN IN YEARS!" The insane Anti-Author proclaimed. He pulled out three metal spheres before tossing them into the air.

"CHEMICAL BOMBS!" Phoenix shouted.

The bombs exploded into bursts of green liquid, which liquified anything in its path. However, they were prevented from touching any of the injured authors by an aura arm. TL stood right next to them as the chemicals burned holes into his hat and poncho.

"Strange, I thought you haven't been doing the circle ceremony." The Face commented.

"I was hiding behind the table and performed it." TL said as he withdrew his bluish-green appendage, "NOW, I think the full use of my powers outweighs the need for stealth." The Fictorian hedgehog began to gather energy in both of his palms before rubbing them together.

"What's he-?" Phoenix asked.

"DUCK." Lunatic shouted.

"Oh, a bit of electricity?" The Face asked as he began gathering chakra in his hand, "How about we make this a test then?"

"You're on!" TL growled as the energy gathered in his hand turned purple and began sparking, "STATIC..."

The Face's ball of chakra suddenly began to spark with electricity as well, "RASEN..."

"PULSE!"

"STORM!"

A vortex of wind and lightning burst out of the Face's hand just as a blast of violet electricity erupted from TL's palms. However, the vortex seemed to absorb the burst TL created and hit the Fictorian hedgehog. TL yelled in pain as he was sent into the wall with a CRASH.

"HEY!" Phoenix shouted as she hurled her Keyblade in Strike Raid. The Face side-stepped it and fired his shotgun. Phoenix screamed as bits of metal buried themselves in her flesh, causing blood to erupt.

"FIRE-STYLE!" Lunatic shouted, making a series of hand-signs before coming to a stop on the tiger-symbol, "NEEDLE CANNON JUTSU!"

Lunatic lowered his head as strands of hair shot out of Lunatic's head before turning a bright orange. The Face activated his Rotary Blades and held them out like a shield. Each of Lunatic's chakra-powered hairs hit one of the swiftly spinning blades and exploded on contact. When the Face stopped his blades as Lunatic's barrage ended, he saw that the blades were practically metal stumps now.

"Well, that's a disappointment." The Face simply said before firing with his shotgun again. Lunatic barely evaded the spray of metal.

"Forgetting about ME?" JC asked as he grabbed The Face and lifted him up before slamming him into the wall.

"Well, if it isn't the Venom would-be." Face smirked as he reached for something, "Tell me, is that fake symbiote just a cheap imitation or is it REALLY trying to control you?"

"SHUT UP!" JC shouted, bringing a fist back.

"Too slow." The Face said as he pulled out a revolver.

BANG!

The gunshot disturbed the fake symbiote, causing it to retreat a few inches off JC. It quickly returned to it's current state, but not before the bullet entered his gut and he fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

DJ quickly materialized in front of the Face with his scythe in hand and his claws extending. The Face smirked as he leaned away from a claw slash and jumped over a scythe strike. He quickly drove a foot into DJ's face before holding out his hand as lightning and wind chakra began gathering.

"RASENSTORM!" Face yelled as another burst of pure chakra went through the room, hitting DJ, full-on and sending him into a nearby wall, crashing into the bookshelf.

"Boy, this was less entertaining than I thought." The Face said.

"HEY!" shouted a voice as bullets flew at the Face, who pressed the speed point of his star and evaded the strike.

Rook was standing upright with the Cross Punisher attached to his arm in the machine gun pose.

"Well, I take it that you've recovered?" The Face asked.

"Bingo." Rook stated.

"Don't forget me!" Kitty yelled as she shot an Ice Lance at the Anti-Author terrorist. The Face side-stepped it and opened-fire on her.

None of the bullets hit as Ross came to a stop. He held out the bullets in his bleeding hand.

"You meant to fire THESE?" the Pokemorph asked.

"Indeed, I did. Thank you for finding them." The Face said. There was suddenly a flash of silver as his spikes fell down. Hikari was standing in front of him, Twinsegia in hand, "Well, if it isn't the Balance Queen."

"Get out and DON'T come back." Hikari said, coldly as she held her sword across the Face's neck.

"Given THAT option..." The Face said before biting Hikari's hand like a dog. The Balance yelled in pain as the Face took off, "We shall see each other again! I hope I can actually kill someone, though!"

"Whoa...that was kinda cool the way you just burst in like that." Rook said as Hikari clutched her bleeding hand.

"Not now, Rook-san. The others are injured and need immediate medical attention." Hikari said.

"Hey, I think I've got somethin' that could help with that." Loony said, pulling out his Red Life Aura.

"You haven't left that behind AT ALL?" Ross asked.

"Nope." Lunatic said.

"And you haven't used it AT ALL?" Nukid asked, wincing as he tried holding his index finger up.

"Hey, a lot's happened, pardon me for forgetting." Lunatic defended.

"You're...pardoned..." came a weak voice.

The conscious members looked over and their jaws dropped. Sgt. Marcus Reynol was standing in the doorway, covered in blood and barely managing to keep himself upright. But the most shocking part was the fact that he was missing an entire arm.

"I...screwed...up..." he murmured before falling to the ground in a heap.

_HOORAY! A CLIFFIE!_

_Reviewing is encouraged, but not forced. Con crit is also more than welcome._


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Recovering from the Blow

The barracks were filled with the fighters who had been injured during the Face's raid. The only conscious ones had been taking shifts keeping a look-out in case anyone tried coming back. Currently, it was Kitty.

Nukid was looking in pain as he was laying in his bed.

"Oh no, not Nukid!" Lunatic yelled as he ran over to see DJ standing next to him, "I heard you were mortally wounded! The Face is gonna pay for this!"

"No, don't seek vengeance. I spent too much of my life wanting it." Nukid said, "But if you could kick the Face to hell, I'd appreciate it."

"Dude, ya can't just die!" Lunatic pleaded as tears filled his eyes, "I've still gotta beat you as 'Best Critic', fair and square!"

"Loon, I'd like ya to know I don't hate you." Nukid stated with a grin, "I know we spent so much time arguing, but the truth is..."

"Shhh..." DJ said as he put his hand over the former assassin's mouth. Nukid laid in silence, not moving a muscle.

"Nukes?" Lunatic asked, poking the Brit a few times before exclaiming, "DUDE! NUKID'S DEAD! I THOUGHT THIS DAY WOULD NEVER COME!" he put a hand over DJ's shoulder and said, "Let's get a drink to celebrate!"

"O-kay, if you say so..." DJ replied.

"SO, I'D DIE AND YOU'D BE HAPPY ABOUT IT?" Nukid shouted, suddenly bolting up.

"Told ya he'd get up if we did that." Lunatic said, "You owe me five bucks."

Meanwhile, Rook, Hikari, and Ross were looking over Reynol's beaten body. Ross ran the Red Life Aura across his damaged stump, causing small flames to go up around them.

"Unfortunately, the other Life Auras are missing." Ross explained, "So, all I can do is cauterize the guy's wounds."

"Guess this kinda solidifies the Black Berets' toughness." Rook said, "The guy's got a lot of fractures and didn't pass out until getting here."

They heard a mumbling from the ex-SOLDIER.

"Itch..." Reynol murmured as he lifted his hand, feebly.

"Hey, don't move." Rook said as he grabbed Reynol's wrist, "You barely survived and we're currently trying to assess how much you've been beaten."

"I'll see what I can do with the others." Ross said as he looked over his fellow Author Fighters. There were few who were uninjured. Nukid was back up and was currently trying to strangle Lunatic...so, nothing new. He sighed, "I'm one of the more powerful Authors, but now, I can't do anything..."

He walked up to the entrance of the Buzzing Sign Diner. Kitty was sitting just under the counter. He tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and suddenly, her hands turned to frozen claws.

"Oh, Ross." She said with a sigh of relief, "It's just you. Sorry. Kinda got sleepy."

"Hey, how about I take the watch for now?" Ross asked.

"Oh. Okay." Kitty said as she walked away.

"'Bout all I CAN do." Ross murmured as he sat next to the cash register.

—

DJ was watching Lunatic run from Nukid. All this pain and suffering and these two were running around as if it was three years ago.

"Amazing, isn't it?" he asked himself. He looked over at TL, who was still unconscious. His eyepatch lay next to him as he began thrashing around and screaming, "Looks like he's finding it out..."

"Figuring what out?" JC asked as he walked, gingerly, over with bandaged wrapped tightly around his midsection.

"What I hid...what he asked me to hide." DJ replied.

"What'd you do while I was gone?" JC asked, suspiciously.

"He wanted me to do that." DJ said, dully, "He wouldn't take 'no' for an answer..."

—

TL yelled out loud again. Memories were flooding through his mind that he couldn't recall before. He saw everything—his team returning to Earth to find it in ruin. Each member being picked off except him and a Hyuga girl. A stabbing pain in his right eye as a Darkside soldier tore through it with a sword. The girl rushing over to him and running the Darkside through. Her hands touching her right eye as well as his. An odd tingling sensation in the right side of his head as a Byakugan was inserted into it. The other Darksides grabbing her and pulling her away. His attempts to try and catch up, but to no avail. His powers were gone as he decided to not complete the Circle Ceremony. A moment of nothingness. JC waking him up and saying that almost all the members of the FAF were missing or dead. The two walking back to New Jersey, trying to keep as low a profile as possible. His meeting with the few survivors. JC going off to find someone else. TL looking at DJ and saying something.

"Could you seal my memories?"

"What?" DJ asked.

"Could you seal everything between me returning to this world and coming back here?" TL asked a second time, "If I knew about this...it would make me a liability or a psychotic killer again."

"TL, you're not that." DJ said.

"JUST DO IT!" TL barked.

"I won't." DJ stated.

"DJ, I'm asking you as a friend." TL said, "I want to do as much as I can without slowing anyone down."

DJ looking torn before putting his hand on TL's face, "I do this against my better judgement."

—

"And that's what he's going through." DJ concluded.

"He'll have to answer for that." JC murmured.

"Yeah, I will." TL mumbled as his mismatched eyes slowly opened and he propped himself up.

"I take it the seals in your memories I placed didn't withstand the combination of IR energy and chakra?" DJ asked.

"Guess not." TL said. He pulled his feet over the side, "By the looks of things, we drove off the Face."

"Yeah. Reynol returned, but not in the best of condition." JC replied.

"Is there anything I can do?" TL asked.

"Not really." JC replied.

"Figures." TL sighed as he still stood up and walked away.

"I'm surprised you didn't go on about the fact that...you know." DJ said as he walked next to the hedgehog.

"Considering all I've been through, I'm used to loss by now." TL replied with a melancholy voice.

—

Rook slowly plucked the pieces of shot out of Phoenix's arms before saying, "Well, I think that's the last of 'em. With hope, you won't get lead poisoning."

"Don't worry." Phoenix said, summoning her Keyblade and pointing it up before shouting, "HEAL!"

Green light danced around her as her wounds sealed up.

"That's helpful." Rook said as he put away the med-kit and mumbled, "I'm a TECH expert, not a doctor. What the heck am I doing here?"

"Hey, Rook." Phoenix said, "Did I do the right thing by just hiding instead of fighting?"

"Considering the condition the planet's in, I think hiding's a little more than understandable." Rook replied.

"But...should I have been fighting?" Phoenix asked, "So many of my friends went down fighting like heroes—X, Tal, Dawn, Ranger...was I just trying to save my own skin?"

"Everyone else was dying around you. You were freaked. You ran." Rook replied.

"But...I just left my friends behind." Phoenix said, "I was travelling with some survivors, including Dawn and Tal. We were attacked by Darksides. I WANTED to fight, but something made me turn around and run, leaving them to die."

"How you choose to deal with the consequences of your actions is entirely up to you." Rook said before walking away.

Phoenix laid her face in her hands.

—

Kitty walked over to Hikari.

"So, you're speaking again?" Kitty asked.

"I am." Hikari replied. It wasn't her usual kind voice. It was much colder.

"How's Ray?" Kitty asked.

"He'll live." Hikari answered.

"Well, that's a relief." Kitty said. Hikari didn't answer as she walked over to the former-SOLDIER, who sat up and got to his feet. Kitty shuddered as she saw the bandaged stump where his arm used to be.

"There's something you should know." Hikari said.

"And that would be?" Reynol asked as he walked around, wincing as he clutched his chest.

"You shouldn't be walking in that condition." Kitty said.

"I've been in physical pain most of my life. It's like hanging out with an unwanted relative, but you wanna be polite, so you can't ask him to just leave." Reynol stated as he weaved through the bustling authors. Each of them gave him the same chastisement, to which he gave the same response every time.

"I'll go up to relieve Ross." DJ said as he phased through the floor.

"You do that." Reynol said. He then looked at Hikari and asked, "You were saying?"

"Drake is on the other side of the country." Hikari answered, "He's nowhere near New York. He's in Los Angeles."

Reynol suddenly went rigid. His electric blue eyes widened as a series of thoughts entered his mind. Why would Drake spend the next few years in Los Angeles? Because it was a good vacation spot? Because it was his enemies' old HQ (which WOULD have a sense of irony)? No, those weren't QUITE it.

He looked around at Kitty and asked, "Did you Author Fighters collect anything from your missions?"

"Uh, yes, we did." Kitty replied, not expecting this to come out of nowhere, "The talismans of Shen Du, various Shen Gong Wu, the Volumes of Pandemonium, and-"

"CRAP!" Reynol swore as he pounded the wall with his remaining hand. He pulled it back and growled, "STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! I was being STUPID!"

"Do I even wanna know what he's doing?" Nukid asked as he took a breather from his pursuit of Lunatic.

"I have a feeling we'll find out anyway." Lunatic murmured.

"Drake's trying to break into your guys' vault." Reynol stated, "Where you kept all the powerful objects you collected."

It took about ten seconds for that sentence to register to everyone, who replied with a collected, "WHAT?"

"You guys deaf or something?" Reynol asked, "He hasn't shown himself for three years because he's trying to break open that vault and get those items."

"And considering how much of the world he's got under his control, he's got all the time in the world." Phoenix murmured as she brought her fist into her open palm.

"And if he gets those items, any chance we have of beating him will be long gone." TL stated.

"Which means we've got to get up and move out as quickly as possible!" Reynol stated.

"And how do we do THAT?" Lunatic asked, "None of us are really in fit condition to get on the road and it's on the other side of the country."

"I've got friends who're more than happy to help. **(A/N: I originally had Reynol say "I've got friends with benefits.", but I changed it because of unintentional implications.)**" Reynol replied as he walked over to the book case and shoved it out of the way with one arm. Behind it was an entire collection of weapons with everything from swords to firearms.

"You had a weapons cache behind the bookshelf?" Ross asked.

"Yeah. No one ever thinks to look behind the bookshelf." Reynol replied as he grabbed a katana and slid it onto his back next to his ninjato. He grabbed an M4 Commando and put it into a holster on his back just next to his swords.

Lunatic peered over and saw a familiar-looking sword. It was opal and looked like a hybrid between a Chinese Dao and a kopis from 300. He looked over it to see a familiar eagle-patterned hilt.

"Holy crabapples." TL swore as he looked at the blade, "It's a UFO Blade!"

"There are more UFO Blades?" Rook asked.

"Yeah, they're Fictorian-styled swords made by an ancient Fictorian swordsmith." TL explained, "His works (except three) were scattered to the dimensions. I think that one's called the UFO Fang Sword."

"The Black Berets found it when we made this base." Reynol explained as he grabbed a small, violet orb, "If it's yours, take it."

"Dibs." Lunatic said as he grabbed the sword by the hilt and picked it up. It wa surprisingly light in his hands.

"Look, we've got matching blades." TL grinned as he held out his UFO Short Sword. He sheathed it before tying his patch around his eye.

"Guys, this may freak you out, but just bear with me." Reynol said as he tossed the orb against the wall, "Follow me."

Reynol walked into the portal, followed by the others. After what felt like hours of walking through a tunnel of pure darkness, they arrived in a small thicket.

"Where are we?" was the immediate response from almost everyone.

"I'll tell you." Replied an eerily familiar voice. In a burst of black flames, a man with wild, black hair, a sword shaped like a flamberge strapped to his back, a black jacket and muscle shirt with matching pants and boots appeared. He wore a pair of sunglasses, which he immediately pulled them off to reveal a pair of eerie, yellow eyes, "Well, I never thought I'd be seeing YOU guys again."

It was Wraith!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Preparing For War

"YOU!" all of the Authors shouted.

Phoenix summoned her Keyblade, TL and Lunatic drew their UFO Blades, Nukid cracked his knuckles, JC was engulfed by his Symbiote, DJ pulled out his scythe, Rook pulled out his Cross Punisher, Chaos energy gathered in Ross' fists, ice covered Kitty's hands, creating icy claws and wings, and Hikari pulled out Twinsegia. They were ready to attack the person who brought so much trouble on their group in the past. However...

"Stand down."

Reynol was holding up his remaining hand. He had ordered them to stop.

"Do you even know who this creep is?" JC demanded.

"Yeah, I do." Reynol replied as he walked up to Wraith and held out his hand, which the Darkness shook.

"Am I the only one who's not getting this?" Lunatic asked.

"No, I'm just as confused as you are." TL stated.

"Shall I?" Wratih asked with his smirk. Reynol nodded. Wraith snapped his fingers.

In bursts of red, violet, green, orange, and aqua blue flames, five Legion of Darkness members appeared in similar suits to Wraith. One was a man with scars on his face, brown hair, and stubble. He was also lugging around a two-handed battle-axe with just one hand. The other was a woman with skin dark enough to be Indian. She had a single, red mark on her forehead and orange eyes that made her look like a panther. The third was a tall, muscular man with spiky, white hair and violet eyes. The fourth was a man slightly taller than the woman with spiky, white hair, red eyes, black fingernails, and teeth sharpened to points. The final one had blonde hair styled into a shark-fin with large teeth, shown in a shark-like grin. Everyone who fought the Legion of Darkness knew who they were—Vordan, Shadra, Zylor, Malice, and Carcharodon.

"This is what's left of the Legion of Darkness." Wraith said, "We've been trying to overthrow Drake for quite some time now. We've had small victories here and there, but nothing of any real notice. I found out about your plans and made a deal with your boss. We help him as long as he gives me something in return."

"And that would be?" Hikari asked, suspiciously.

"Drake Darkstar's head on a platter." Shadra stated. She and Hikari didn't make eye-contact because, a few years earlier, they had done their best to kill each other.

"To which I answered 'medium or well-done'." Reynol stated.

"But why'd you make a pact with these guys?" DJ asked.

"In cases like these, a common enemy can make unlikely alliances happen." Reynol said, "They've been keeping an eye on the activites ever since."

"And by the way, you're a bit late when it comes to the vault being opened." Wraith stated, "Drake's almost got it open. Only one digit left."

"CRAP!" Phoenix swore as she punched a tree, her power gauntlet leaving a considerable hole in the bark.

"But I have a plan." Wraith said, "It involves the original plan Reynol had."

"My original plan was that, if Drake actually took the bait and came to New York, I would use this." Reynol said, holding out a small, violet cube.

"And what would that be?" Ross asked as his Chaos Energy dissipated. Because there was no apparent threat right now, the others put away their weapons.

"Something I helped him make." Reynol explained, "It's designed to separate anything Digimon-based from any given subject. Namely, DarkPaladinmon's data. If we get rid of that, we weaken Darkstar considerably."

"And we have learned that Drake's bringing about a gathering of Darksides to celebrate this momentous occasion." Wraith explained, adjusting his sunglasses, "I estimate that in three days, the vault will be opened. Coming within that time will be the majority of Drake's most trusted followers. Basically, we'll have all the rotten eggs in one basket."

"And your plan is...?" Rook asked.

Wraith's face broke into a mad smirk as he simply said, "Blow up the basket."

"We've been burying as much bombs in the city as secretly possible by night." Vordan said, holding up a charge, "Remote activated, unable to be discovered by metal detectors."

"We have a map pointing out each bomb." Shadra said, unfurling the map, which had various X's throughout the city.

"We take Drake out first. Then the other Darksides will be confused and fighting amongst themselves." Reynol said, "During the chaos, we make our leave and blow up the joint."

"Go in, kick tail, and leave?" Nukid asked. He grinned before saying, "Sounds like my kinda plan."

"We have three days to begin this plan." Wraith said, "I say you try and recooperate and train yourselves."

"Read manga much?" Phoenix murmured.

"Still, best we do get into top condition." Reynol stated. He looked at his stump before looking back at Wraith.

"I'll deal with that later." The Darkness said.

"Next question." Rook said, "How're we gonna get into enemy territory for a full-on assault?"

"By dropping in on them." Wraith answered, "You'll rondevous with the Assassin's Guild. They'll take it from there."

"Those guys from Japan who gave us a load of crap?" Nukid asked, "I thought we dissolved their organization."

"Well...you'll see." Wraith replied.

The other authors began their training for the next three days. They had to be in the best physical condition possible.

—

Day one...

TL and Lunatic brought their blades clanging against each other. Lunatic's Fang Sword was slightly longer than TL's Short Sword, but TL's had a stronger build to it. The two brothers brought their blades against the other's as they leaned in close.

"You're good." TL said, "Well...I speak because I've seen good swordsmanship. I've never been a swordsman myself."

"Guess what? Same here." Lunatic said as he managed to deflect his brother's blade.

TL sheathed his sword and pulled out his revolvers. He spun them on his fingers, pulling back the hammer in the process before firing them. They were a good bit away from the city and hiding in a restricted area. Who was going to be there to hear the noise?

Rook slashed at Phoenix with his Keyblade. The other keywielder jumped back before pointing her finger at Rook.

"KNIGHT'S FIRE!" she shouted, firing a blast of golden flame at Rook, who managed to dodge.

Ross shot a Chaos Spear at a tree, cutting off a branch before running at it with high speed and climbing up it. He jumped off it before driving his foot into the nearby tree.

Nukid swung his foot in a Ranyaku, going right through a large boulder.

"Still as good as ever." The former assassin smirked.

JC sighed as he looked at LA. He lost so many friends there...

'Hey, JC.' a voice said.

JC wheeled around to see a floating, blue orb of what looked like snow...in summer.

"What the heck?" JC asked.

'I am the Exaltation—the power of Hurricane's Quill.'

Elsewhere, Sgt. Reynol was standing in front of Wraith.

"You were saying about my arm?" Reynol asked, gesturing to his stump.

"You'll like this." Wraith said, pulling out a vial filled with black liquid. He opened it and walked over to the ex-SOLDIER. He poured the liquid onto Reynol's shoulder.

A shudder ran down Reynol's spine as the liquid coursed down his shoulder and began to lengthen and solidify. He looked down to see a pitch-black arm where his organic one used to be.

"We Darknesses use these for amputees." Wraith explained, "There's a day for it to fully connect with your nervous system...but it's going to hurt."

"Still, it's good to have TWO arms now." Reynol said as he looked at it, hanging limply at his side. He was in for a long night...

Hikari drove Twinsegia into a tree before pulling it out and driving her foot into the bark. It hurt like crazy, but it was worth it. Within seventy-two hours, her Sempai-kun's data will be released, the Darkside regime will have been dealt a fatal blow, and Drake would be rotting in Hell.

Three years of living with the knowledge that DarkPaladinmon was gone and not coming back unless they did something about it had bittered her spirit. Now, she could barely be recognized from her old self.

—

Day two...

GS spun his Glock 17 on a single finger. He looked over at the guests pouring in, all here to celebrate the Darkside triumph. Everyone except his team of free Darksides. They wanted nothing to do with Drake, but they had no place in this era. He saw Regalia (the Darkside of one of Hikari's fellow Balances), Jace (a clone of JC 619), Shade Blood (the Darkside of Ranger), and Krolton DarkHeart (a leader of an army bent on universal conquest). He growled as he saw the Face walking in.

"Oh, GS, put that gun away." The Face said, "It's an embarrassment."

"Excuse me." GS said as he shoved his pistol into its holster, "I prefer giving my enemies a quick, painless death."

"But there's no fun in that." The Face replied, "I prefer watching the looks on peoples' faces as they slip slowly into the embrace into death!"

'Why do I work with psychopaths like this?' GS asked himself, mentally. He opted to say, "I'm VERY accurate with my gun fighting skills. I can shoot a fly right out of the air."

"Yes, I'm sure you're world-renowned for your fly-shooting abilities." The Face said, sarcastically. He walked away, whistling to himself.

'I've truly sold my soul.' GS thought, 'Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned...a LOT.'

Krolton and Regalia walked up a flight of stairs along with The Face, the Chaos Duo, and GS. The entered an ornate room, where a giant safe lay in the center. Drake was slowly going through the numbers.

"Glad to see you've been enjoying yourself." Krolton stated.

"Just one of the perks to being ruler of the planet." Drake replied with a grin. He turned around just in time for a girl clad in black with a mask walked in, "Glad to see you've arrived as well."

"Yeah." Krolton shrugged, "Couldn't have ALL the world, but I can settle for a small piece of it."

"I just miss the days of tracking down and slaughtering people." Regalia said with an annoyed sigh.

"Yeah, those were fun days." Face smirked, "By the way, Regalia, I hope you're STILL not miffed about that deal in Deadliest Author."

"I got to kill Lucifer. Why should I be complaining?" Regalia asked.

"I take it you want me to keep guard, sir?" GS asked, hating how the word 'sir' felt when addressing his 'boss'.

"Indeed, GS." Drake replied, "You're still in charge of Johan and Omadodn. You just make sure no one bothers us."

"WHAT?" Johan and Omaddon shouted, simultaneously.

"I'd listen to him." Krolton said as he drew his Shadow Skull Blade, "Unless you wanna duke it out with me."

"Come on." GS ordered, leading the Chaos Duo away.

"Thank you, Krolton." Drake said as he continued searching through the numbers.

"No problem." Krolton replied. His thoughts, however, said differently—'This whole world's gonna be mine the moment you open that safe.'

His thoughts were shared by the two psychopaths.

'You WILL pay.' The girl thought, venomously.

Meanwhile...

Reynol drove his new fist into a tree, making an impression equal to Phoenix's power gauntlet.

"I like this." Reynol said. He looked around to see that the others were taking it easy, having spent the majority of the last day and a half constantly fighting. However, one was still training—Hikari was wildly slashing with her sword.

She slashed and struck, imagining each blow was falling a Darkside. She jumped up and brought the blade down...

CLANG!

Her blade met with Reynol's katana. He quickly deflected the blow.

"That almost tore my arm out." Reynol said, flexing his organic arm, "What's up with that attitude? Not that I mind you training so vigorously."

"I lost my love and you're asking why I'm doing this?" Hikari asked.

"Oh, now I get it." Reynol said, pulling out his ninjato and crossing the two blades, "How about you and I do a bit of blade-on-blade?"

Reynol tossed his ninjato away, causing it to bury itself into a nearby tree. Hikari yelled as she struck at the ex-SOLDIER's katana. Reynol blocked the strike before parrying and thrusting out his katana. Hikari evaded the strike and delivered a kick to Reynol's chest. In true Black Beret fashion, he absorbed the blow before grabbing Hikari's foot with his black hand and flipping it up. Hikari spun through the air before thrusting her foot out again. Reynol rolled out of the way before running at Hikari and jumping into the air and doing some form of aerial cartwheel with his sword outstretched.

Hikari got out of the way of the oncoming blade and hit Reynol with the hilt of her sword. The blow caused Reynol to immediately fall to the ground. Hikari pointed her blade at his neck.

"Dead." Hikari simply said.

"Really?" Reynol asked.

Hikari felt something poking her side. She looked down to see Reynol was clutching a KA-BAR knife and was barely touching her with it.

"Just a bit more pressure on this and you'd have a bloody hole in ya." Reynol said, "The pain would keep you distracted long enough for me to roll out of the way and gut ya." He pulled his knife away before standing up and sheathing his katana. He walked over to his ninjato and pulled it free before sheathing it as well

"What was that about?" Hikari asked.

"Vengeance—good motive, but not so good to use on the battlefield." Reynol said, "Keep your head clear and think about the better of everyone else."

The ex-SOLDIER walked away and looked at the rest of the group. They were all resting.

TL sat on a tree, scratching at his eyepatch. He didn't know what was irritating it, considering it was concealed by a patch, but it was just acting up like that.

"Has it done that before?" JC asked as he sprung up to the tree.

"No, it hasn't." TL replied, pulling his hand away despite the itch it was getting. It was like dust was constantly being blown into it.

"Weird." JC said as he noticed the blue lights dancing behind him, "I've gotta go now."

"Okay." TL said as he shut his eyes, trying to ignore the irritation and go to sleep.

JC jumped down and landed next to a conveniently-placed Phoenix.

"Heya, JC." Phoenix said.

"Hey, Phoenix." JC replied, "I'm doing good with my training. You?"

"I'm doing good." Phoenix replied, "But what're you doing here?"

"Someone wants to see ya." JC replied as he moved aside. The Exhaltation floated forward before flying directly at Phoenix, phasing right into her chest.

The Keybearer gasped at the feeling.

—

Day three...

It was the day. The day of the invasion. The authors gathered in the center of the forest, where the Legionnaires stood in a line.

"Alright, we've done training and Drake's probably ready to burst that vault open." Reynol stated.

"Glad to see you haven't forgotten it." Wraith replied with his grin.

"But one question—how're we gonna get into the city in the first place?" Rook asked.

"Another strategy we came up with while you were in the Big Apple." Wraith replied, folding his arms. He looked at Zylor and nodded.

The muscular Darkness walked over to what appeared to be a clearing and tapped his fist against what appeared to be thin air. In a shimmer of light, a large, black plane appeared.

"The Darksides are guarding the ground. I doubt they'll be expecting an aerial attack." Wraith stated.

"But when we land, won't the guys just...y'know, turn around and shoot us?" Kitty asked, fearfully.

"No, they won't." a voice replied.

Immediately, a group of people clad in business suits and wearing various-colored Oni masks appeared.

"Pardon this." One of the shorter members said in a light-hearted, relaxed voice, "It's just we've had to hide our faces."

They reached up and pulled off their masks.

"Oh, it's you guys." Nukid stated.

The leader had short, spiky hair and eyes the color of steel. He was Tohokari Kotetsu, descendant of the samurai, Susanoo, and current leader of the Assassin's Guild. The second one was taller than him with tanned skin, graying hair, and green eyes. He was Zchazz Tsutsu, the member who preferred machine guns. The third had long blonde hair and green eyes. She was Kali, the group's martial artist. The fourth had messy, blue hair, purple eyes, and an amount of stubble. He was Poz Hebereke, the (occasionally) alcoholic magician. The fifth had copper-colored skin with pure, white hair, and yellow, eagle-colored eyes. He was Glory-Feather of the Gryphon Tribe.

The sixth was a woman with brown eyes and short, black hair tied in a bun. She was Sogekihei, a sniper trained by Zchazz. The seventh had short, black hair, blue eyes, and a scorpion tattoo on his cheek. He was Sasori, the silent martial artist who trained his hands to move faster than the human eye can register. The final one had skin as dark as Shadra's, green hair, and orange eyes. He was Dark-Blaze of the Dragon Tribe as well as an explosives expert.

"Nice to see you, too, punk." Zchazz murmured as he chewed on a toothpick, "After all this time, THAT'S the greetings ya give us? I've blown people's heads off for less."

The other five had more familiar features to them. The first one had long, blonde hair in a mullet and blue eyes, the second had dark blue glasses and brown hair. The third was a girl with green eyes outlined by purple eyeliner, and black, goth-esque hair. The fourth was another girl with red, curly hair and blue eyes. The last one had spiky, blonde hair and blue eyes.

Immediately upon seeing them, Kitty's eyes widened.

"KITTY?" the five asked in unison.

"Haru? Banjomaru? Tanuki? Janera? Kiva?" Kitty asked before running over to them.

"So, the Japanese mercs teamed up with elemental sorcerers and sorceresses?" Ross asked.

"Yeah, I'm scared, too." Phoenix stated.

"And lemme tell you, it's not easy." Tohokari said, jabbing a thumb at Haru, "Especially with the guy with questionable sexual preferences."

"HEY! I'M NOT BI! I'M NOT!" Haru shouted, defensively.

"Yeah right and Poz is sober." Tohokari replied.

"I heard that!" Poz snapped.

"And I caught you with the sake." Tohokari shot back.

"I'll never understand those guys." Vordan murmured.

"Living with them's been more annoying than usual." Tanuki said, "The only one who's tolerable is Sasori and that's because he doesn't talk."

"I didn't think you guys survived!" Kitty exclaimed.

"I didn't think you survived either!" Kiva grinned.

"What happened to your hair, Kiva?" Kitty asked.

"I ran out of dye." Kiva answered.

"Don't tell me what happened to the others..." Kitty said.

"Oh, they're not dead." Janera said, "Drake captured them when he took over."

"And we joined these guys to try and bust 'em out." Banjomaru said, pointing a thumb at the other members.

"Yeah, yeah. A nice introduction." Carcharodon said before asking, quickly, "So, can we get to the killing now?"

"Save your insane energy for the actual attack." Wraith said to the (most) insane Darkness, "So, you Authors take the plane and drop into the city. The Legion and Assassin's Guild will go in for a ground assault to try and keep the Darksides occupied long enough to cause some havoc."

"Anyone here know how to fly a plane?" Tohokari asked the authors. None answered. Tohokari sighed, "Fine. Sogekihei, can you take them?"

"Yes, I can." The sniper replied as she strode over to the black plane.

"Best of luck to you all." Wraith said as he pulled out his sword, "It's time we blew those Darksides to Hell!"

"Try to get out of this alive!" Kitty called to her friends.

"No promises." Tanuki stated.

"In other words, we will." Banjomaru stated.

The Authors boarded the black jet, which soon took off into the air at an incredible speed.

"Legionnaires, assassins, and...whatever you guys are." Wraith said.

"SORCERERS!" Haru called.

"How do you guys feel about getting the chance to slaughter some Darksides and taking back the world?" Wraith asked, "All in favor, shout 'revolution'."

"REVOLUTION!" the grouped Darknesses, assassins, and sorcerers/sorceresses shouted in unison as they pumped their fists into the air.

"Music to my ears." Wraith smirked.

_A bit disjointed, but things are about to get better!_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Revolution part 1

Los Angeles, the City of Angels. Former HQ of the Fanfiction Author Fighters, now a cesspool of Darkside scum. Everything that was wrong with Drake's reigime was present here. However, today will be different.

A plane soared over the city with no one being the wiser. It slowly circled LA.

"What're you waiting for?" Rook asked, impatiently.

"The signal from the others." Sogekihei answered, "If you guys just drop in, there are thousands of Darksides waiting to attack you. They need to get their attention first."

—

"I say it's about time." Wraith smirked as his group entered the city with no problem due to their lack of black cloaks. He looked at Zchazz and Poz before asking, "Are you two ready to do your part?"

"Yeah." Zchazz said as he and Poz walked into a hotel with Vordan and Shadra right behind them. The second Zchazz passed through a metal detector, it went off. When security guards flocked over to him to try and solve the problem, he pulled open his jacket to show that guns filled ever single corner of it, "Wow. Deja vu."

Poz pulled out a switchblade before throwing it at a guard, hitting him the chest. Shadra vanished into the shadows as Vordan brought his tiger claws slashing through one of the guards before beheading another. Zchazz pulled out his .45 revolver and fired into each one. He looked over at the obviously terrified bystanders.

"Hey, this is funny." Poz said to his partners in an eager voice. He looked at the bystanders and simply said, "Boo."

They screamed and began running away in terror.

"Never gets old." Poz sighed.

"Let's just do our job." Shadra stated.

Zchazz pulled out an RPG-7 as they began going into an elevator. Shadra heard something and immediately tossed a knife at a guard who was still alive.

"Problem solved." Shadra stated. She stayed out of the elevator, "I'll slow down any intruders."

Casual elevator music played, completely contrasting to the man carrying a rocket launcher and another one with a battleaxe. Only Poz looked reasonably content.

Their elevator opened up on the top floor. They walked through the hallway before Zchazz booted a door open. Immediately inside, there was a half-naked couple making out. Upon having three intruders, they immediately stopped.

"Sorry, I need to use your window." Zchazz stated as he loaded a rocket into the launcher.

"I'm headin' for the roof!" Poz said as he took off with the fleeing couple.

"Let the first shot be fired." Vordan stated.

"Here ya go, Drake." Zchazz said, "A gift from the bottom of my heart!"

He pulled the trigger and fired.

—

BOOM!

The missile hit the statue of Drake (which was about ten times his actual size), sending chunks of debris flying everywhere. GS growled as he pulled his Armalite off his back.

"I guess I'll be checking this out." GS murmured before shouting, "Johan! Omaddon! We're needed!"

The Chaos Duo jumped before following the Darkside sharpshooter.

—

"And there's the signal." Sogekihei said as the RPG's grenade exploded, "Get ready to jump out."

"Thankfully, most of us can fly, so paracutes are a moot point." JC said, "Drop us at reasonable heights and so we can't be noticed easily. We've got to go in and hit Drake as fast as possible."

"We already knew that." Nukid said as TL grabbed an extra seat with levitation. Both of them got onto it.

"Keep radio links open. Speed, not stealth." Reynol ordered as he put in a communicator.

"I'll be manning the plane with the chick." Rook said.

"Call me that again and you'll see how powerful a round from a Desert Eagle can be, first-hand." Sogekihei said in a calm, yet oddly threatening manner.

"Uh, yes ma'am." Rook replied.

Kitty grabbed Lunatic under the arms as Ross grabbed Reynol and Hikari. Phoenix grabbed JC.

"You got a handle on those powers yet?" JC asked.

"Here's hoping." Phoenix said.

"Let's go!" Reynol shouted.

The authors jumped out of the airplane. TL was whooping as he rode the seat like a snowboard. Oddly enough, Phoenix was keeping herself and JC levitated and speeding towards the ground. Kitty let Lunatic go before going in a different direction with Ross, who deposited Reynol and Hikari close by.

The ex-SOLDIER, Balance, and Fictorian Ninja landed within two yards of each other before immediately rushing back.

"Okay, we've got three of those things that absorb data." Lunatic said, holding out one.

"In layman's terms, yeah." Reynol said, holding out one.

"So, we've got three chances of getting Sempai-kun out of Drake." Hikari stated, holding hers out before pocketing it.

"So, let's go." Reynol said before pulling out his M4 and loading a clip into it.

"Right." Lunatic said as he pulled out the UFO Fang Sword and Hikari her Twinsegia.

—

TL and Nukid landed a mile away from Lunatic, Reynol, and Hikari landed. The hedgehog pulled off his patch.

"BYAKUGAN!" he shouted as the skin around that eye tightened. He looked around the area and saw the explosives under the ground. He then noticed something...different, but familiar. He looked over at Nukid and said, "I've spotted something...odd. Just try and make it to Drake's HQ. I'll catch up."

TL took off running.

"Oh, you're not just running off like that." Nukid stated, taking off after the Fictorian.

—

Phoenix and JC came to the ground.

'One thing I don't get.' Phoenix thought, 'You said long a go that your Exaltation powers will go back to heaven and have their memories wiped clean before coming back to Earth. Why are you still aware of who you were?'

'Maybe God had a plan, maybe it was a fluke, maybe we'll never know.' the voice of Hurricane's Quill answered.

'So, in other words, you're saying 'ha-ha! You're never gonna find out!'?' Phoenix thought as she and JC ran through the city.

'Basically.' HQ answered.

—

Shadow-DJ materialized in the center of the city and began walking through. He had all the time in the world. He suddenly sensed a presence and wheeled around with his scythe in hand.

"Good day to you." Said the Face, nonchalantly as he cleaned his nails with a bayonet.

"The Face." DJ simply said.

"How would you prefer me to answer?" The Face asked with a smirk, "Correct, affirmative, bingo, indeed..."

"Just say 'bingo' and get it over with." DJ said.

"Well, you know the drill." The Face said, pulling out his mini-UZI and loading a fresh clip into it, "We do our best to try and kill each other!"

"I like the sound of that." J said, holding up his scythe and UFO Blaster.

—

Ross and Kitty flew around the city before landing on the rooftops.

"So...we go to Drake's headquarters?" Kitty asked.

"If we can." Ross said.

The ice dragon and Pokemorph began running towards Drake's HQ. But what they didn't know was that Regalia was watching them from the shadows.

"You're not gonna make it far, I'm afraid." The Darkside Balance snickered before extending her nails into razor-sharp claws.

—

On top of the hotel, Poz and Glory-Feather were standing right next to each other.

"Are you SURE you can manage the right spells?" Glory-Feather asked with a playful sarcasm, "We don't want another walrus falling on you."

"Yeah, yeah. I got the spells." Poz said as he clapped his hands together. When he pulled them apart, glowing blue circles appeared on each of his palms. He then shouted, "REHTAG SMROTS GNINTHGIL!"

The skies immediately began darkening as lightning crackled, causing mighty booms of thunder.

"Wind Spell 14—GALESTORM!" Glory-Feather shouted, bringing his arms in a swooping motion. The winds immediately began to blow stronger, as if a hurricane was tearing through LA.

"Think you'll be okay?" Poz asked.

"Hey, I'm used to flying in adverse weather conditions." Glory-Feather said, "Wind Spell 20—TRANSFORM!"

In a gale of white winds, Glory-Feather had transformed into a griffin with white feathers on the eagle half, and white tiger fur on his lion half. He then took off into the skies.

"Show-off." Dark-Blaze murmured as he tied a string around the safety pin of a grenade before taping it to the side of a door.

"So...will that end up killing us if someone walks in?" Poz asked, nervously.

"Only if we stay out of the blast radius...and be sure to stay clear of the shrapnel." Dark-Blaze replied before pulling out more grenades, "Try and get these as widespread as possible...without hitting our comrades."

"I'll try. SIELLA ETACOL!" Poz shouted, bringing his hands together. In his mind, he could immediately tell where the authors were located and where they were going. Dark-Blaze pulled the pins out of his grenades before tossing them into the air, "DNAMMOC YM OT EVOM, STCEJBO!"

The grenades froze in midair before Poz hurled them into the city, causing explosions to go off throughout the city.

"I love the sound of F-1 grenades going off in the morning." Dark-Blaze stated.

"Could you say that in a LESS creepy way?" Poz asked.

—

GS noticed a grenade coming right at him. He thrust out his hand and caused a blue force field to surround himself and the Chaos Duo.

"So, they're not afraid of collateral damage this time?" GS asked.

"Uh...wasn't it bright and sunny a few minutes ago?" Omaddon asked.

"Yeah. I know cities around oceans tend to have frequent storms, but isn't this a bit TOO spontaneous?" Johan asked.

"Whether it's spontaneous or not, we still have a job to do." GS said as he immediately saw people standing around a hotel, "Isn't it odd that there are people around the hotel who AREN'T panicking or going inside?"

"Hey! You're RIGHT!" Omaddon yelled as he slipped spiked brass knuckles on before charging at the group of assembled Darknesses.

"Looks like we've been found out." Wraith said before cueing with his finger.

"And they said only ONE wind-based magic user would be enough." Tanuki stated before holding out her hands, "TORNADO BLAST!"

A tornado immediately appeared and began tearing through the city. GS jumped into the air and caused another forcefield to cover himself and the Chaos Duo. They were sucked in by the tornado and immediately spewed out, flying right at them.

"Well, that's why we've got OTHER means of fighting 'em off." Wraith shrugged. He then felt something before smirking, "Guys, I'll be off doing something else. Kiva, you're in charge while I'm gone."

"You got it." Kiva said as Wraith vanished in flames.

GS, Johan, and Omaddon landed in front of Kiva.

"MetaGang member." GS stated as he rose to his full height, "I guess I should've been in charge of finding all of you."

Kiva immediately summoned his Dark Claws before springing at GS. The Darkside hedgehog evaded the initial strike, but the following slash ripped his rosary off.

"You should NOT have done that." GS said before pulling out his trench knives. In a burst of blue light, the two small blades immediately became three-foot-long, jagged blades.

"This should be interesting." Kiva smirked as he sprung forward again.

—

Drake growled in frustration as he looked over the city. Just when he was about to get the vault to the Author Fighter's artifacts open, THIS had to happen. He made a bet with himself that this had SOMETHING to do with the FAF. Just when he thought he'd have killed them all, there was always one left to try and destroy all he had built.

The Chaos Trio found a wrecked base right below the Buzzing Sign Diner (which everyone avoided for obvious reasons). However, the authors were nowhere to be found.

Drake sighed as he pulled out his Dark Saber. It had been a long time since he had actually fought with it.

"This is gonna be so good." Drake said to himself.

—

TL jumped from roof to roof before landing at the location he spotted with his Byakugan. He looked around to see that no one was present.

"Odd..." he said to himself. Something then hit him in the back, causing him to tumble forward and fall off the ledge. An aura arm quickly grabbed the edge of the roof as he slowly pulled himself up, 'MAN, that hurt! Whoever attacked me obviously knows about the Byakugan's blind-spot...'

TL pulled himself up and got an eye-full of who attacked him.

"I thought you were dead!" he said in disbelief.

It was Hanabi.

"Half." Hanabi replied, "If you came to find me, you'd have known."

"If you saw me getting killed, would you have stayed long enough to see how my corpse was desecrated?" TL asked.

"You always were a pathetic medic." Hanabi stated, "I drop my pulse for five seconds and you leave me for dead?"

"Where have you been for the last two years?" TL asked.

"In Drake's employ." Hanabi said, gritting her teeth, "He's made me do things that would make your Demon Form scream in pain..."

"If this is about me running, I'm sorry." TL said, "I TRIED to save you...just like I did with the others."

"You think this is about you leaving me?" Hanabi snapped, "TL, I NEVER held that against you. But, all I have to ask is...WHY IN GOD'S NAME IS DRAKE STILL ALIVE? EVEN BEFORE ME, WHY DIDN'T YOU AT LEAST TRYING BLOWING THAT SCUMBAG OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH?"

"Maybe because I don't do vengeance anymore." TL said, "A few years ago, I might've turned into a force that'd bring Drake to his knees...but I'd also cost hundreds of innocents who never did any harm in their lives."

"And you call yourself a warrior." Hanabi snarled. She pulled out a katana and said, "If you're not going to do anything, you're useless to this cause!"

She bolted at the Fictorian and slashed out. TL narrowly dodged, feeling the steel rip through his poncho.

"I'm not gonna fight." TL said, tipping up his hat, "But I'm not gonna make it easy for you either..."

—

JC and Phoenix immediately halted as someone jumped in front of them. There was no mistaking the long black hair—it was Regalia.

"I noticed you Authors flying into the city." The Balance Darkside said as her nails extended into blade-like points, "Now, considering the new order of things, I think it's obvious why I can't let you go any further."

Phoenix suddenly summoned her Keyblade and sprung at Regalia, who barely blocked with her claws.

"RUN!" Phoenix shouted at JC.

Not having time to waste, JC quickly tore off towards Drake's HQ. Regalia deflected the strike before lashing out with her claws, which Phoenix evaded. One scratch and she was done thanks to rotting away via Chimamire Kushaku.

"Well, this should be entertaining." Regalia snickered.

"I won't run away. Not THIS time." Phoenix said to herself as she gripped her Keyblade tighter.

—

Krolton charged through the city with his Shadow Skull Blade in hand. Anyone unfortunate enough to be in his way was quickly decapitated. A burst of black flames appeared right in front of him just as he slashed with his sword again. The being that appeared did a back-flip over the strike and summoned a black miniature-flamberge to block the strike.

"Nice to see you again, old playmate!"

Krolton's smirk broaded as he realized who he was fighting—his old rival, Wraith. His army and Wraith's Legion of Darkness had crossed paths on many occasions...and both had managed to stomp on the others' toes.

"Wraith, I was wondering where you've been all this time!" Krolton smirked as he brought their blades down before back-handing the Darkness, "You never call, you never write, I was getting bored!"

"Well, ya know how it is with leading a resistance." Wraith replied, nonchalantly as he stood up and drove his boot into Krolton's face, sending the warlord staggering back, "You don't have enough time to contact the ones you used to hold dear."

"What was the score we were at?" Krolton asked, wiping some blood off his face, "I believe it was your sixty-five to my seventy-two."

"Well, consider this my sixty-sixth!" Wraith proclaimed as black fire erupted all around him before getting absorbed into his skin. Wraith now had razor-sharp teeth, black quill-like hair, and his sword had merged with his wrist, "Welcome to my nightmare."

"This is gonna be fun!" Krolton yelled before charging at the Darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Revolution Part 2

GS booted Kiva over before putting his gun between his eyes.

"Give yourself and your team up and I won't pull this trigger." GS stated. Kiva's response was to spit in the Darkside Hedgehog's face, "Wrong answer."

"KUSANAGI YUMI!"

An arrow made of silver light flew out at GS, who narrowly dodged the strike. He looked up to see Tohokari with his two katana attached together. He pulled them apart before jumping down towards GS. The Darkside Hedgehog pulled out his trench knives before turning them into large, jagged swords to block the assassin's swords.

"Why're you doing this, GS?" Tohokari growled as he put more pressure on his swords.

"Because Drake told me he'll set my men free if I work for him." GS answered.

"You know what that makes YOU?" Tohokari asked before saying, "A SAP."

GS deflected the blow before slashing at Tohokari. The slash barely tore his jacket as the samurai landed next to Kiva, who was standing up.

"Who do you think you are?" GS growled.

"I am Tohokari Kotetsu." Tohokari answered, "Descendant of the legendary samurai, Susanoo. Leader of the Assassin's Guild. Wielder of the katana, Kusanagi."

"Well, this should be fun then." GS said as he charged at the two.

Inside the hotel, Vordan and Shadra suddenly stiffened.

"You felt that?" Shadra asked.

"Yeah." Vordan answered, "Our boss is in trouble."

—

Krolton grabbed Wraith by the robe before driving him into the ground, breaking the pavement. He pulled the Darkness up before looking at him with a wicked smirk.

"I've missed these." Krolton said, "You and me constantly goin' at each other's throats, but never killing each other."

"Because it was just too much fun!" Wraith cackled as he brought his fist smashing into Krolton's face.

The demon conqueror backed up a bit before blocking Wraith's next attack with his Shadow Skull Blade. One strike from Wraith's blade and he'll be incapacitated due to being trapped in a nightmare world. He drew his Ruby Dagger before slashing at Wraith, who evaded the attacks before throwing a burst of black fire at Krolton. Krolton punched the fire with his armored fist.

"This is just as good as I remember it." He smirked before throwing his dagger at Wraith.

The Darkness flicked his wrist and sent it out of the sky, "I WOULD say that was close, but it'd only serve to lift your confidence for a few seconds."

"How about with THIS?" Krolton asked before pulling out a Shadow Grenado and lighting the fuse. He tossed it at Wraith, who evaded the bomb, but the explosion sent him flying forward and crashing through a nearby house. Krolton scoffed before saying, "Too easy."

However, a knife came whizzing through the air to slash him across the cheek. He reached up and felt the blood before looking over to see Shadra and Vordan.

"So, it's Wraith's sword and hidden dagger?" Krolton asked.

"Never get tired of those nicknames." Vordan murmured.

"You should run." Shadra said.

"Yeah, I SHOULD." Vordan nodded, "But I won't. Wraith is my leader and I've sworn my loyalty to him."

"As have I." Shadra said as she clenched her fists around knives. Vordan slipped on a pair of tiger claws before heaving a poleaxe over his shoulders.

"Oh, you two here to save your boss?" Krolton asked.

"Does it matter to a dead man?" Vordan asked, bolting over to Krolton and swinging the axe in a circle as if it were as light as a twig. Krolton evaded the strike and slashed the Darkness with his dagger. Vordan didn't even flinch as he lashed out with his tiger claws. The demon general blocked the strike with an armored fist before punching Vordan in the face. Vordan grabbed Krolton by the head and drove his own fist into it.

"You're tough." Krolton snarled before jamming his dagger into Vordan's gut, "But not tough ENOUGH. Pain absorbing can't help you when it comes to ruptured organs..."

He pulled the blade out and held out his hand. Two knives that Shadra threw at him were immediately caught. He drove one of them into Vordan's neck before throwing the second one at Shadra. The female Darkness side-stepped it before slipping into the shadows.

"Typical assassin tactic—stay out of sight and wait for your enemy to let their guard down." Krolton called. When he didn't get a response, he scoffed before continuing, "But it's not as effective if you know what makes her tick. Unfortunately, I know your weakness."

In the shadows, Shadra kept a face of stone and a firm grip on a knife. She was only a yard away. The moment he was at just the right distance, she would throw a knife into his face and avenge Vordan...

"If your attack fails, I will keep Wraith alive...just long enough to see the plan he made fall apart." Krolton said, "He ALWAYS liked tactics. Kept referring to warfare as a game of chess...and he called you his chess pieces, but none are pawns. I will watch his face before cutting off his head."

"NO!" Shadra yelled as she threw her knives at Krolton, who evaded all the strikes and she saw that he had a Shadow Grenado in hand. She knew what he would do...and she just gave away her hiding place as Krolton lobbed the bomb over. It exploded and sent her into the wall before landing in a heap.

"Now, to deal with YOU." Krolton said, wheeling over to Wraith, who was back on his feet.

"You just made a VERY bad move." Wraith said, shaking his head with a look of fury on his face.

"Does it involve killing your subordinates?" Krolton asked.

"No, it was killing my friends." Wraith growled as he ran over to Krolton, "I'm ANGRY. And when I'm ANGRY, people DIE!"

Wraith swung his sword at Krolton, who blocked with his Shadow Skull Blade and slashed with his dagger. Wraith evaded the attack before throwing a fistful of fire at Krolton. It hit the demon lord in the face. He roared in pain as Wraith pulled Shadra's knife free of Vordan's neck and hurled it at Krolton's face. The blade went through the skin and muscle of the finger and pierced through the skin and bone of the skull between the eyes. Krolton fell over back and never moved again.

"Thus passes an old, beloved enemy...good riddance." Wraith said, kicking Krolton's corpse onto its chest. He walked over to Shadra and knelt down next to her, "Shadra...can you hear me?"

"Yes..." she gasped. She looked up at Wraith and a small smile came across her face, "I...always...loved..."

Before she could finish her sentence, she shuddered and lay dead in Wraith's arms. He closed her eyes before laying her down, gently.

"Time to continue..." he said to himself before running through the streets. Two of his friends had been killed, but he could not let that slow him down...not when there was so much riding on this.

_Sorry it took me a while to update. I've been trying to concentrate on college...which involved ignoring my fanfics (though, for some reason, I can still write my movie reviews)._


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Revolution Part 3

TL evaded another strike from Hanabi before delivering a swift kick to her gut. She grabbed his ankle before driving her fist into his face. TL pulled his leg in close before delivering an open-fist punch to Hanabi's face. She swung the hedgehog around before letting go, throwing him away. TL sent out an Aura Arm to grab onto the roof to anchor himself down before landing.

"You've improved." TL said, standing up with a playful grin on his face, "This isn't gonna be as easy as I figured..."

"You never stopped joking." Hanabi stated.

"Hey, when you're so serious, there's gotta be a bit of a comedian." TL replied before springing back at Hanabi before making a strike with one of his revolvers—a pistol whip. Hanabi blocked the strike before sending a Gentle Fist into TL's gut. However, it was blocked.

"My Byakugan's proving useful to you, huh?" Hanabi asked.

"Yeah." TL said as he thrust out his left hand and sent a burst of pale, blue energy at her, knocking her off her feet, "And that's an example."

Hanabi reached into her pocket and pulled out three kunai before throwing them at TL. The hedgehog's hand sprung up and stopped them in midair. Hanabi sped forward, plucked one of the kunai out of the air and TL's telekinetic control before slashing at his fur, shedding blood.

"You have a Byakugan and you're still blind." Hanabi said, booting the hedgehog away onto the street below.

"YEAH, BUT YA DIDN'T COUNT ON ME!"

Hanabi turned around just in time to see Nukid's fist smash into her face. The former assassin then grabbed her by the head and threw her onto the next rooftop. He sprung down and pulled TL up to his feet.

"We've got a rendevous point to get to, ya miserable hedgehog." He growled, "You can't pass out NOW!"

"Hey, I'm made of tougher stuff than THAT." TL said with a smirk, "You go for the rendevous point. I'll stay here."

"WHY?" Nukid shouted.

"This is MY fight. It's me she wants to deal with." TL replied.

"Exactly."

Hanabi jumped down and Nukid barely evaded a Gentle Fist strike. He looked over at TL and simply said, "Don't make me regret this..."

Nukid took off running as TL assumed the Snake-Style's offensive position—his fingers grouped together while extending his right arm and pulling the left one back. Hanabi charged forward as TL lashed out two strikes. She evaded both strikes as TL's left arm began glowing.

"While training, I found out some new tricks!" TL grinned before shouting, "AURA ARM TRITTIA!"

An aura arm flew out of TL's arm before separating into three long, three-fingered arms. Hanabi's eye widened as she evaded one arm only to be grabbed by the other two. TL used his right hand to pull out his revolver before firing at her. Hanabi let an explosion of chakra exit her, dissipating the Aura Arms and blocking the bullets. TL grabbed his second revolver before firing it as well. Hanabi evaded each bullet before charging forward and delivering an uppercut to TL, sending the Fictorian into the air before landing on her fist. Fictorian skeletons are made of sturdier materials than human skeletons, so TL's spine didn't snap, but he still screamed in the pain of the impact.

"You've lost your touch." Hanabi said, tossing the hedgehog to the ground.

"Well...how about I up the ante?" TL asked, pulling the gauntlet off his left arm. A blue flame exploded across the left side of his body, but quickly died down to his left arm. He yelled before thrusting out his hand, sending a blast of bluebell flames at Hanabi.

Hanabi lept out of the way before throwing shuriken at TL. The Fictorian back-handed the stars and the two froze in midair. He then pulled off his right glove before charging forward. He extended his right hand before yelling, "LIGHTNING CLAWS!"

Electric claws sprung out of TL's hand and slashed at Hanabi, causing her to freeze up as blasts of electricity went through her body. TL pointed his revolver right between her eyes.

"Yield." He said.

"No, because YOU..." Hanabi's hand sprung over to TL's Ultima Medallion and ripped it off, "Left an opening."

TL's eyes bugged open as he yelled and hunched over. Blue fire and red electricity erupted all over his body and merged to become raging, purple energy. He looked up, his face screwed up to try and prevent himself from exploding.

"You've...killed...the city..." TL growled.

"I died LONG ago." Hanabi stated.

"I...I'm sorry..." TL apologized again as he stood up and staggered towards her, "But...if this is your choice..."

Hanabi looked confused as the Fictoriann staggered over to her. She tried jumping back, but was stopped. TL wrapped both arms around her in a tight embrace. She struggled to get free, but to no avail.

"WH-WHAT'RE YOU DOING?" she screamed.

"Exactly what you wanted..." TL replied as energy radiated between the two, "To die...with me."

TL closed his eyes as a tear rolled down his cheek and smiled. Suddenly, he felt something slip around his neck. He opened his eyes as he saw the energy fade away. He looked down to see his Ultima Medallion around his neck. He looked to the right to see Nukid with a smirk.

"Couldn't let ya level the city, now could I?" Nukid asked, "Not so soon, anyway."

TL's face broke into a smile. The energy had, apparently, knocked Hanabi unconscious. He hefted her over his shoulders before pulling his gloves back on.

"C'mon, nukes, we've got a randevous to get to!" TL grinned before taking off running.

"That's more like it!" Nukid said as he took off after the hedgehog.

* * *

"Is that HONESTLY all you have?" The Face asked as he evaded another slash from DJ's scythe. He pulled out his rotary blades and began making oddly...dance-like movements.

'Don't tell me he's gonna sing...' DJ groaned, mentally.

Unfortunately, he WAS...

The Face: _**Your butt is mine**_

_**Gonna tell ya right**_

_**Just show your face**_

_**In broad daylight**_

DJ lashed out with his scythe only for the Face to bring up his rotary blade and slice right through the shaft.

The Face: _**I'm tellin' you**_

_**On how I feel**_

_**Gonna hurt your mind!**_

_**Gonna shoot to kill!**_

_**Come on!**_

_**Come on!**_

_**Lay it on me!**_

DJ slashed with his claws, ripping through the Face's shirt and shedding blood. The wounds were shallow and the crazed Anti-Author just laughed.

The Face: _**Alright!**_

_**I'm givin' you to the count of three!**_

_**To show your stuff or let it be!**_

DJ pulled out a staff with an owl's head on it and swung it at the Face. Magic crackled around it and flew out of the owl's mouth. The Face held up his hand, which had a three-point star on it. He touched the first point, then the second one. He sped out of the way before punching DJ in the back and sending the imp into a nearby building.

The Face: _**I'm tellin' you**_

_**Just watch your mouth.**_

_**I know your game.**_

_**What you're about.**_

_**Well, they say the sky's the limit!**_

_**And, to me, that's really true!**_

DJ fired with his UFO Blaster as he wheeled over to the Face. The Face was hit by one of the blasts and was sent backward. The Face sprung up again with two Mini-UZIs in hand and his insane grin plastered on his face.

The Face: _**But my friend, you ain't seen nothin**_

_**Just wait 'till I get through!**_

The Face opened-fire with his two submachine guns. DJ phased into the ground as the Anti-Author used up all his clips. He tossed the guns aside before pulling a tank onto his back. DJ rematerialized just in time to see the Face point the nozzle of a flamethrower at him.

The Face: _**BECAUSE I'M BAD!**_

_**I'M BAD!**_

_**Really, really bad!**_

_**YA KNOW I'M BAD!**_

_**I'M BAD!**_

_**YOU KNOW IT!**_

_**Really, really bad!**_

_**YA KNOW I'M BAD!**_

_**I'M BAD!**_

_**COME ON!**_

_**YOU KNOW!**_

_**Really, really bad!**_

_**AND THE WHOLE WORLD HAS TO ANSWER RIGHT NOW!**_

_**LEMME TELL YA ONCE AGAIN,**_

_**WHO'S BAD?**_

"YOU'RE bad when it comes to singing." DJ said, firing with his UFO Blaster. The Face jumped away in a Moonwalker-style before pulling out a forty-five calibur revolver and firing it. Not at DJ, but at the Blaster. It hit across the barrel, causing it to break off. DJ growled before bringing out his scythe and charging at the Face.

"Oh dearie." He said, activating his rotary blades and slashing at DJ. The scythe was deflected and DJ's gut was torn open, "Oh, the good old sight of blood..." the Face smirked before licking the blood off of his blades, "It tastes even better from someone of supernatural origin..."

DJ growled before using the scythe to stand up. He looked down as his wound healed. He sighed as he came to a conclusion that he never wanted to do, but was the only option he had left. He slammed the butt of his scythe down on the ground. Shadows erupted from it and caught onto the Face.

"OH, WHAT IS THIS?" The Face cackled, "SOME NEW TRICK?"

"You've given me no choice." He said, "I'm sending you directly into the Underworld."

"I'LL GET OUT EVENTUALLY!" The Face shouted as the shadows pulled him to the ground and he slowly began to fade into the ground. He looked at the situation with an expression that said that this was the funniest thing ever, "YOU KNOW THIS MAKES US SIMILAR! WE BOTH KILL PEOPLE WITHOUT FLINCHING AN EYELASH! I THINK I'LL TELL SOME OF YOUR FRIENDS DOWN THERE THAT! MAYBE START UP A CLUB! I'LL BE SURE TO SEND YOU A CARD!"

The Face's head lolled from side-to-side as he continued laughing like crazy before he was absorbed up to his neck. He only stopped when he faded into the ground. DJ sighed in relief, happy that the Face's laughter would finally stop...but doing that action and hearing his cackle would haunt him for a long time.

He shook his head before walking off to the rendevous point.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Revolution Part 4

Phoenix's Keyblade flew through the air in a Strike Raid. Regalia ducked under the strike before slashing at the Keywielder. Phoenix evaded each and every strike with as much ease as she kicked Regalia in the back. The Darkside Balance wheeled over and thrust out her claws. It grazed Phoenix's cheek, but (thankfully) no Chimamire Kushaku effects activated.

Phoenix slashed down with her Keyblade. Regalia caught the oncoming blow, but the Keywielder thrust out her arm...the one with the Power Gauntlet. The resulting impact sent Regalia flying backwards right through a nearby building. Phoenix flexed the fingers of her gauntlet, readying herself to continue the fight. A claw burst out of the debris to go straight through her shoulder. Phoenix screamed in pain as she brought her Power Gauntlet down on the finger, breaking it off as though it were made of glass.

Regalia screamed in pain as she withdrew her other claws. She pulled herself out, glowering at Phoenix.

"YOU WILL PAY!" she roared as she lunged at Phoenix.

"No, YOU will." Phoenix said as she tapped into her new powers. She yelled as she shifted into a large bird with flaming-red feathers.

"Wh-WHAT?" Regalia shouted.

"I have been chosen by the Exhaltation." Phoenix replied as she spread her wings, "My form is also my name—the Phoenix!"

Phoenix flapped her wings as she took into the air. She flew into the skies, where the storms and explosions still ran rampant. She looked down at Regalia as she sped down towards the Balance Darkside. She spread out her talons and slashed at Regalia. Blood erupted from the Darkside's body. Regalia slashed out with her claws and missed, only nicking a few feathers. Phoenix turned around and did another dive-bomb at Regalia. The Darkside side-stepped and thrust her claws into Phoenix's side.

Phoenix let out a loud screech in pain as she veered off course and crashed into a building.

"Not so tough." Regalia shrugged. She looked over to see a short, Japanese man with a scorpion tattoo across his face, "Who the he-"

Before she could finish her sentence, she felt as though someone had punched her in the face, though she did not see Sasori move. She tumbled and fell to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Phoenix decaying away, but slowly as her form was rather large. She looked over to feel a punch to the stomach. She saw a slight movement, but barely.

"So...your hands are fast enough to go unnoticed by the human eye?" Regalia asked as a murderous smirk spread across her face, "Good thing I'm not HUMAN!"

Sasori's brows furrowed a bit before he pulled his hands back before striking with a barrage of punches. Regalia blocked the blow before impaling his hands with her claws. For the first time, Sasori screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, looking at his blood-stained hands.

"You're a different kind of martial artist." Regalia said, lengthening one claw, "I'll make it quick."

With a quick thrust, she impaled Sasori through the eyes. The martial artist fell back, dead as a doornail.

"May I have an ACTUAL fight today?" Regalia asked.

"HOW ABOUT THIS?" screamed a familiar voice.

Regalia looked over and froze in place out of shock. Phoenix was still in her Exhaltation form, but she was on fire. Her wings were ablaze and her body was half-decayed. Her appearance now looked like a monster right out of the pits of Hell.

"NOW, YOU DIE!" Phoenix roared as she sprung over with her remaining strength. She landed right on top of Regalia. The combination of Phoenix's massive size and her flaming body quickly caused her death. Phoenix sighed as she continued to be consumed with flames and asked, "Could I get an ACTUAL fight today?"

* * *

Ross and Kitty continued sending blasts at Drake's stronghold. None of their attacks caused much damage, but that was not their mission. Their mission was to distract them from the actual threat—Reynol, Hikari, and Lunatic. Ross sent a flurry of Chaos Spears at the headquarters while Kitty sent balls of solid ice. The helicopter they arrived in soon flew up next to them.

"Can you fly a helicopter?" Sogekihei asked.

"Sort of." Rook replied.

"Just keep us from crashing." Sogekihei said. She grabbed a sniper rifle and loaded it. She looked out an opening before firing with her rifle. At this point, all civilians had either evacuated the city or hid in their houses. The only Darksides out in the open were soldiers. Whenever Sogikihei's sniper rifle let out a bang, a Darkside fell in a heap, a bullet right in their head.

The Darksides, however, quickly realized where their attacker was coming from. They pulled out their AK-47s and opened-fire on the helicopter. Sogikihei continued firing, dropping more soldiers. However, she soon felt a barrage of bullets go through her body. She had been shot. She slowly leaned forward as her rifle's weight and gravity pulled her down. She fell out of the helicopter.

"NO!" Rook shouted from the pilot's seat.

He veered the helicopter to a collision course with the fortress. He grabbed his Cross Punisher before running out and jumping through, opening-fire with the machine gun attachment of his cross-shaped arsenal. The helicopter crashed into the fortress and exploded, sending Rook careening to the ground. He shook his head before slamming the Cross Punisher into the ground and pulled the horizontal bars apart and grabbed two gun blades, the Saint Arms. He charged into the soldiers, slashing wildly. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins like fire. His blades cleaved through soldier after soldier and he fired at ones that were foolish enough to get too close.

Ross and Kitty continued their assault on the fortress. Suddenly, Ross froze in place. He saw Drake Darkstar on the balcony, looking at them, unafraid. A playful smirk was on his face as he beckoned to the two.

Ross' teeth ground together. This Darkside...this monster had stolen their leader's data and forced them all into exile as well as hunting down those he held dear as friends. The Pokemorph flew towards Drake, Kitty noticing only too late.

"ROSS, NO!" she screamed.

The Pokemorph arrived at the balcony and swung a kick at Drake, who evaded the strike.

"CHAOS SPEAR!" he shouted, sending a blast at the Darkside leader, who casually side-stepped the shot, "HYPER BEAM!"

Ross held out his hands as a blast of bright orange energy erupted from his palms. Drake pulled out his Dark Saber and parted the blast, blowing two holes through his wall. He sheathed his blade as Ross ran towards him and let out a flurry of punches, all of which were evaded.

"FIGHT BACK!" Ross roared, "FIGHT BACK!"

"If you insist." Drake sighed as he grabbed Ross' fist. The Pokemorph felt the grip on his hand tighten until he could feel the bones in it start to splinter, "By the way, it's not in my best interest if you had THOSE."

Drake flicked a finger. All the Life Auras Ross was carrying sprung out before flying away. Ross stared, eyes wide, and mouth agape at that. Drake leaned in close, pulling out his Dark Saber. His head rested on Ross' shoulder as he simply said, "Good-bye."

The blade went straight through Ross' midsection. Blood erupted from them before he dropped the Pokemorph's body onto the floor.

Kitty saw the whole thing with wide eyes. Drake had just toyed with one of the strongest surviving members of the FAF and defeated him as though he had been an amateur! His power had increased THAT much?

"Don't even think about going in there, Kitty." Rook said through the comm-link, "You'll get thrashed and killed the same way!"

Kitty remained silent, angry tears in her eyes. She switched off the comm-link. She flew towards Drake and thrust out her hands. Ice flew from her hands and froze Drake in place. She only had time to grab the back of Ross' shirt and fly away before Drake shattered the ice. She switched it back on.

"WHAT ARE YOU, CRAZY?" Rook shouted. There was a pause before he conceded, "Okay, STUPID question."

"I'm sorry, I...I had to." Kitty apologized.

"I got another call from JC." Rook said, "There's been a change in plans. We're setting off the explosive charges now."

"Okay." Kitty said, taking a deep breath.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Final Revolution

Tohokari, Kiva, and GS were standing in a triangle, panting. Each one was caked with sweat, dirt, and blood of both themselves and their foe's. GS gripped his trench knives as Tohokari tightened his grip on his katana.

"You can't win." GS growled, taking up a battle-ready pose.

"Strange, I was about to say the same thing to YOU." Tohokari said before snapping his fingers.

In bursts of flames, the remaining Legionnaires appeared. Malice pointed his hand cannon at GS, Carcharodon snapped his Shark Fangs, and Zylor hefted his Buster Blade off of his shoulder. Out of the hotel, Zchazz, Poz, Dark-Blaze, and Glory-Feather emerged. Zchazz pointed his M-60 at GS as Dark-Blaze and Glory-Feather simply stayed behind in the background. Poz held his open palms at GS, which began glowing with bright blue light. The other members of the MetaGang appeared and took up battle-ready positions.

GS' eyes darted around to try and find an opening with which he could escape. He grabbed the handle of his Glock and used his alchemy to change its properties. He pointed the pistol at Kiva.

"TWILIGHT DRAGON!" he roared, pulling the trigger. A golden dragon erupted from the barrel of his gun.

"Think not!" Carcharodon exclaimed, holding his Shark Fangs open. The moment the Twilight Dragon made contact with the metal shark teeth, the instruments clamped shut, keeping the energy suspended inside. Carcharodon wheeled over and held the fangs at GS, "The minute you try anything, YOU GET BLASTED BY YOUR OWN ATTACK!"

GS growled as he tossed the pistol to the ground and raised his hands in surrender.

"Excellent job, gentlemen." Tohokari said, sheathing his sword.

"Now," Banjomaru said, walking over to GS, "Kindly lead us to where our buddies are..."

"Fine." GS spat, contemptuously. He lead the group away.

"One second." Kiva said, sending a blast of shadows out to wrap around and constrict Johan and Omaddon.

"Why us?" Johan asked. Omaddon looked ready to answer, but was cut-off by Johan's angry, "THAT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION!"

Reynol pulled his katana free from a Darkside as he looked over at Hikari and Lunatic. The three had just arrived at Drake's fortress.

"You two ready for this?" the Black Beret asked.

"Yes." Hikari stated.

"Of course we are! We're just spinnin' our wheels here!" Lunatic grinned.

"Just needed a last-chance moment." Reynol stated before punching the door with his black hand. The darkmatter made a solid dent in the steel door. He pulled his fist back, flexing his fingers, "Think any of you can do a better job?"

"Ya know it!" Lunatic grinned before making a series of hand-signs, "FIRE-STYLE! FIREBALL JUTSU!"

Lunatic held out his hand, index finger and thumb pressed against each other. He blew into them and a burst of fire hit the door, turning it bright red. Hikari began waving her hands as water erupted from around them. She struck out with her hands, drenching the door. A burst of steam engulfed the immediate area and Hikari gave Reynol a simple nod. The Black Beret punched the door with his new arm, shattering it like glass.

Apparently, their methods of breaking the door had alerted a castle full of Darkside soliders, all of whom pointed their guns at the three.

"And here I was thinking that it would be a dull way up." Reynol said as he pulled out his M4. He opened-fire.

"SHARINGAN!" Hikari shouted as her eyes turned blood red. She pulled Twinsegia out before flying at the Darksides, evading the bullets and slashing at them, wildly.

"Mental note: NEVER get Hikari mad again for as long as I live." Lunatic said, pulling out his chakram and hurling them at the Darksides before pulling out his UFO Fang Sword.

The three shot, slashed, and punched their way through the guards as they ascended the stairs. They came to a door near the top of the building. Reynol held out his regular hand to the other two before counting down from three to one. He struck at the knob with his dark hand before swinging the door opened.

"Is it time already?" Drake asked, coolly, his back turned to the three as he turned the final digit of a giant vault, calmly as though he had all the time in the world, "But, as you can see, I've just about won."

"Not yet, you haven't." Reynol answered.

Drake froze before looking over at the three. His eyes bulged at the sight of Reynol, still alive after he thought he had killed him. A series of curses and proclamations raced through his mind, but the one that he roared at the top of his lungs was, "I DO NOT FRIGGIN' BELIEVE THIS!"

"Guess you'd better start believing it, then." Lunatic smirked as he sheathed his sword and resummoned his chakram, "I beat ya before and I'll gladly do it again!"

"You WIL pay..." Hikari hissed as she clutched the hilt of Twinsegia closer.

"We'll see." Drake said, pulling out his Dark Saber, "By the way, ANOTHER person to add to my body count—that Pokemorph, Roscoso, thought he could beat me."

Hikari's eyes narrowed and she looked ready to spring at Drake, but Reynol held her shoulder.

"No." He said, "He's just trying to get us angry and sloppy. Stay with my plan." He waited a second before saying, "NOW!"

Lunatic hurled his chakram at Drake, who quickly deflected the strikes. His Dark Saber flashed through the air just in time to halt Hikari's oncoming slash. He grabbed her by the hair before hurling her at the wall. She placed her foot down on the concrete before jumping off and into the air. She made a series of hand-signs before using a Phoenix Flower Jutsu. Multiple fireballs shot out and flew towards Drake, who back-flipped away from them.

"Dark Shot." Drake said, sending out a blast of dark energy.

"FIRAGA!" Reynol shouted, sending a fireball from his Materia implants. The blast intercepted the Dark Shot and caused a small explosion.

"How about I up the ante?" Lunatic asked as a bright blue aura surrounded him. He clenched his eyes before opening them to show that they were pure white. The aura turned into electricity and Lunatic clenched his fists, "SHOCK VEIN! REMEMBER THIS?"

Lunatic ran over to Drake at such a high-speed that it would have been difficult to tell he had been moved, even by a skilled eye. The Fictorian Ninja grabbed at Drake's face, sending electric chakra coursing through the Darkside. Drake simply smirked.

"Dark Magic Attack." He said, pointing a finger at Lunatic. A blast of pure magic hit Lunatic and sent him directly into the wall, causing a rather deep imprint. Drake chuckled before asking, "I have your leader's data, remember? All his attacks and powers are at MY disposal. Add that to mine..."

Drake flicked a finger, sending a blast at an oncoming Hikari Ino. The Balance was sent, careening, through the air.

BANG!

A bullet hit Drake in the back. He looked over with a smug expression to see Reynol, holding a smoking Glock 18. He clenched his fist and the gun shattered into tiny pieces.

"RASEN-PULSE!" Lunatic shouted as a wave of electric chakra pulsed through the room. Reynol ducked just before the blast hit him. Drake held out his hand, parting the blast.

"I'm...not...finished." Hikari said, rushing over and stabbing Drake in the side.

"Looks like I'm a little off today." Drake said, back-handing Hikari. He watched her hit the ground and curl into a ball, clutching her gut. He looked at the bleeding wound in his midsection, "Well, nothing a bit of magic can't fix."

"Too bad you haven't got any." Reynol said as he tossed a violet cube at Drake. The Darkside stared at the cube before suddenly going rigid and yelling in pain as violent energy flew towards him. He felt his own strength fading and the pain in his side increasing with every passing second. When the energy stopped, he fell to his knees, clutching at his side.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Drake demanded.

"Just took back what wasn't yours." Reynol replied, picking up the cube and pocketing it. He looked at Drake before adding, "Darkness technology is a fascinating thing, isn't it?"

Lunatic's electricity faded as he returned to his normal state, panting due to the strain and drained energy after the use of Shock Vein...and keeping his Plasma Vein from coming out.

"At THIS point, I'd like to kill you for every one of my own soldiers killed because of you." Reynol said, "But I think that someone else has more right to kill you."

Hikari clenched her blade before walking over to Drake. She brought the sword up, like an executioner ready to behead a convict. She closed her eyes before bringing the blade down...

And then stopping. She lowered her sword, leaving Drake in his kneeling position.

"I...I can't." Hikari said, "Sempai-kun would not have wanted me to become this—someone who kills those who can't fight back. I saved him and that's all I've wanted these last three years."

"We understand, Hikari." Lunatic said, touching her shoulder. Immediately, he was smacked over the head by Reynol, "WHAT?"

"Don't speak for me, squirt." Reynol stated. He looked at Hikari and handed her the cube, "Yeah, I understand."

"Isn't that what I just said?" Lunatic asked.

"Yeah, I just don't like people speaking for me." Reynol answered.

Drake looked over to the three, still clutching at his wound.

TL, Nukid, JC, Rook, Kitty, DJ, and Wraith arrived at the meeting point. TL had Hanabi's unconscious form draped over his shoulders and Kitty was carrying Ross' body. She put down his body, shedding tears.

"Loosing an ally and a friend isn't easy." Wraith said, "I know. I lost some as well."

"Compassion from YOU, Mr. Psychotic Fear Monger?" Nukid asked.

"Well, good morale means a good job." Wraith shrugged with a smirk appearing on his face.

"Well, Phoenix hasn't shown up either." JC said, looking over to see no sign of the Key-wielder, "We need to prep the charges."

"They'll need to be activated by activating the main bomb." Wraith said, tapping the ground with his boot, "They're all connected to one bomb in the center of the city. I think this one is the right one..."

"Alright then, how long before the bombs go off?" DJ asked.

"Three minutes." Wraith answered.

"I would like one last go-around." TL said, "Just to see if there are any survivors or if our comrades are just unconscious."

"Be back within ten minutes." Wraith stated.

'Who put the Darkness in charge?' thought Rook.

TL caught onto a large chunk of debris before jumping on it and using it to fly across the city. His brows furrowed, he hated looking at these battle zones. There had been innocents staying here...he hoped that they had gotten to safety in peace. He saw debris, craters from other explosions, and corpses scattered across the City of Angels. However, one thing caught his eye—a large scorch in the land.

"Guys, it looks like something huge burned at this point in the city." TL said into the comm-link, "I'm gonna check it out."

"Your on the clock." Wraith said.

TL landed in the center of the burned landscape. He noticed a lot of ash nearby. He also heard an odd noise and something wriggling inside of the ash.

"Guys, I think I found something!" TL reported. What he got back was static. He growled before turning it off and digging through the ash.

"Rats!" Rook swore, "TL's radio died!"

"His time's about up." Wraith said, "We'll have to trigger the explosions and get out as quickly as possible."

"Hey, TL would wait for us!" JC snapped.

"I'm not TL." Wraith stated, "In THIS situation, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of ONE. That hedgehog wouldn't want the entire mission to have been for nothing because of him."

JC glared at Wraith before sighing and hanging his head, "Do what you will."

Wraith held out his hand. Dark flames erupted from them and he set them on the ground. An odd-looking device on three legs appeared. Wraith pressed a red button on the top.

"Why is it that explosives require red buttons?" Rook asked.

The device began glowing with a bright, orange light and a loud siren began blaring.

"Let's get out!" Wraith shouted. He slammed his hand on the ground. Black flames surrounded the ground surrounding the group before consuming all of them. When the flames died down, the group had gone, along with Hanabi and Ross.

GS opened the cell door, where the other members of the MetaGang were being held captive. The members hugged each other in reunion after three years of separation. He examined the prisons to see none of his fellow members of Splinter.

"Everyone!" Tohokari called. This got the attention of everyone present, "The bombs have been triggered! We need to get out as soon as possible!"

"But I saw your helicopter get blown apart!" Janera called out, "How are we going to get out?"

"Glory-Feather and Dark-Blaze." Zchazz answered, "They have certain...powers that'll come in handy."

"I'll stay behind." GS said as he walked away before anyone could argue with him.

"He has his reasons." Dark-Blaze stated as he held out his hands, flames appearing in them.

"Everyone, prepare to get blown around as well as a tan." Glory-Feather said as he held up his hand as wind began to swirl in his palms.

In a gust of wind and a burst of flames, the prisoners had vanished. GS looked over before storming up the stairs. He had a destination to get to first...

"Looks like they had no choice but to start without us." Reynol said as he heard the siren blare. The three nodded before running as fast as they could.

Drake snarled as he staggered up, clutching at his wound. He limped after the three, Dark Saber in hand as they ran out the door and down the stairs. He made it as far as the entryway before GS appeared, glaring at him, coldly.

"You killed my members of Splinter?" GS asked.

"No point lying at this point." Drake said, "Yeah, I DID."

"Figures." GS stated, "Why was I so gullible?"

"You seem oddly calm about this." Drake said, "Aren't you going to kill me?"

"No." GS said, "I figured that ANOTHER death for you was more fitting—going down with your kingdom."

"Then what are you doing?" Drake growled.

"Stalling you." GS answered, "God knows that I've sinned a lot these last three years. I hope this gives Him enough reason to give me a second chance."

Drake roared before slashing out with his saber. The blade went through GS' neck like butter. His head fell down the stairs. A sigh exited through his severed trachea as his body crumpled like a marionette with its strings cut.

The three continued running through the streets. The siren blares got louder and more frequent. Their time was running out.

"SCRAP THIS!" Lunatic shouted before clenching his eyes shut. Chakra began flaring up and turned into pure flames of chakra. He entered his Blaze Vein Mode. He grabbed the two before taking off into flight. The ground just beneath them exploded.

Drake panted as he clutched his wound and his saber. Before him was GS' decapitated corpse. In death, that traitor had prevented him from finding that ex-SOLDIER, Balance, and Fictorian. He gritted his teeth before screaming, at the top of his lungs...

"I WAS SO CLOSE!"

At that point, the detonator near his fortress exploded and it caved in, crushing and entombing him in one blow.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: After the Storm

The explosions had blasted Los Angeles to a pile of rubble. The fires were burning away at what was left. The survivng members of the FAF, Legion of Darkness, Assassin's Guild, and MetaGang looked over the destruction. A tyrant had just been over-thrown, but at a cost...

"I think this calls for a 'mission accomplished'." Reynol said.

For the first time in years, the members of the FAF cheered out loud. Poz joined in, along with most of the MetaGang.

"But we should not forget the brave people who gave their lives to see this mission succeed." Wraith said, "Vordan, Shadra, Sasori, Sogikihei, Roscoso, Phoenix, GSSpiritDude, and TL. All sacrificed and died with honor."

The cheering slowed to a halt with that sobering thought. They had won, but not without casualties and losses of friends. They hung their heads, Reynol looked at the city, stood up straight, and saluted. The Darknesses held their weapons up, holding them above their heads.

Their grief had lasted for a solid five minutes when there was a flash of pink light. They looked over to see TL, who was covered in soot and carrying something in a cloth.

"Wow, seven really IS a lucky number." He coughed with a wheezy laugh.

"TL, you SURVIVED?" the group shouted, in unison.

"Yeah, I did." TL answered, "Funny how I keep surviving, despite having been thought to die in an explosion. Seems to be a pattern or somethin'."

"What're you carrying?" JC asked.

TL hefted the item he was carrying up before pulling the cloth down. Immediately, they saw the round, pudgy face of a baby with a small tuft of brown hair on its head.

"PHOENIX!" JC exclaimed.

"What?" Lunatic asked, looking at the baby.

"She was given the power of HQ's Exhaltation." JC said, "Her other form was a phoenix—it regenerates when it dies!"

"Really?" TL asked, holding the baby version of Phoenix close, "I just figured it was a lost baby...never taking into consideration that maybe it was a comrade."

JC looked over at the city before noticing that sunlight was pouring through the thick cloud-cover.

"I've waited for this day for SO long..." he said to himself.

The next few days were mostly spent giving honor to the dead. Roscoso, Sogikihei, Sasori, Vordan, Shadra, and GSSpiritDude were given proper memorials in order to give future generations knowledge of what sacrifices were required to overthrow Drake's reign of tyranny. The other members of the FAF had either helped try and restore the city or gone their own ways.

TL and Hanabi had left in the night. TL left a note saying that he wished he could stay, but thought it would be better to try and help his girlfriend. He promised that he would return when the two had solved her issues.

DJ left in the middle of the next day. His boss was in need of help keeping the Underworld in order. Apparently, the Face had caused riots and chaos wherever he went and needed further security to be kept under control.

Nukid, JC, Lunatic, Hikari, the Legionnaires, the MetaGang, and the Assassins had stayed. Hikari had been given charge of Phoenix in her current state. A week after their victory, Reynol had disappeared, leaving his M4, pistol, combat knife, and beret behind. A note said that he had left to start over again as well as telling Hikari to ask Wraith as to how DarkPaladinmon could be restored.

"Well, this sucks!" Rook yelled as he, Loony, and Kitty were in the decimated city, "We're still stuck here!"

"Hey, you're right!" Lunatic shouted, "That back-stabbing SOLDIER promised to help us get back to our own time if we helped them out here!"

Kitty was looking at one of Lunatic's spikes. She reached over and grabbed his hair.

"OW! KITTY, WHAT'RE YOU DOING?" Lunatic yelped.

"There's something in here..." Kitty said, pulling out a slip of paper. She unfolded it, showing Reynol's hand-writing.

'Try alternate dimensions instead of the future.'

"What's this mean?" Lunatic asked.

"How the heck did this guy know this stuff?" Rook asked as he pulled out his device, "Making a time machine is tough, a reality-jump machine, THAT'S easier!"

"How's that?" Kitty asked.

"I'll spare you the techno-babble." Rook answered as he began repairing his device. Within a few minutes, the device was repaired, "If I knew this was another DIMENSION, rather than a possible FUTURE, we would've been outta here LONG AGO!"

"So, we can go home?" Lunatic asked.

"Yep." Rook answered, "Hold onto the jacket and we're back!"

"YES!" Lunatic and Kitty whooped, grabbing Rook's shoulder as the Key-wielder as he pressed the button.

In a flash of light, they disappeared.

Wraith stepped away from a computer, set up with a strange-looking device. Hikari stood in front of it, holding Phoenix, and her face brightened as she saw a form being created.

In the Underworld, DJ flocked a group of dead souls into the place of eternal rest. He looked over at the ceiling of stone. He would get out some day.

In a deep forest, TL and Hanabi were in a small cabin. Hanabi had a patch over her missing eye. TL was looking at her and the two were in the middle of a conversation.

In LA, Nukid moved a piece of debris before sighing and taking a break. He sat down and opened a book titled 'Martial Arts of the World'. JC was looking over the city with a nostalgic look on his face. The MetaGang and Assassin's Guild were arguing (most likely, over something trivial). The Legion of Darkness continued doing their own work.

In another town, Sgt. Reynol was buying a map, a bottled water, and some Nerds. He paid with cash before setting out on his way.

"Where're you going?" the clerk asked.

"Dunno." Reynol shrugged, "I just know that it'll be something different."

In a flash of light, Lunatic, Rook, and Kitty were back in Rook's lab. They looked over the laboratory with wide eyes.

"YES!" they all whooped before hugging each other.

"Lunatic! Rook! Kitten!" DP snapped as he entered into the lab. He stood before them and demanded, "Where have you three been? The team's been searching for you for hours!"

"Uh..." Lunatic said.

"We were..." Kitten added.

"Just somewhere." Rook finished.

"Fine, I won't ask." DP sighed in irritation. He turned to leave.

"Hey, DP!" Lunatic called. DarkPaladinmon looked over, "Ya think you could get ANOTHER meeting with those Black Beret guys? I think that being friends with them could be useful."

"I don't like it, but I'll give it a try." DP answered, walking out.

_In retrospect, this chapter was kinda rushed. The next chapter's gonna be shorter still, but it WILL be the last chapter!_


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Epilogue

The members of the FAF were caught in the heat of battle during one of the many battles against the Darksides. DarkPaladinmon had broken away from the group to fight Drake as per usual. Where were they when you needed them? Were they waiting for their check to clear or something?

He came to a halt in an empty street. He spun his staff around before planting it in front of his nemesis. Drake had his Shadow Saber out and a cocky grin on his face.

"Well, Drake, looks like its time for our usual fight." DP said.

"Indeed so." Drake replied, coolly, "But I'm afraid this will have VERY different results..."

Drake held out his hand, which had an unusual device on his palm. A blast of energy erupted form it and hit DarkPaladinmon. He looked at his hand and saw that his fingers slowly pixelated before flying towards Drake's palm.

"This thing will absorb your data and merge it with me!" Drake said with a wild smirk, "Looks like the head of the FAF fell into a fatal trap!"

"Yeah, but you forgot about me."

Drake looked over just in time to see Sgt. Reynol lunge at him. His knee thrust out and hit Drake, full in the side. Drake growled as he flew away. The beam passed away from DarkPaladinmon and his hand regenerated. He immediately thrust it out.

"DARK MAGIC ATTACK!" DP shouted, sending a blast of digital magic at Drake. The Darkside was blasted away further.

Reynol lept over and grabbed the device before pulling it off his hand. He jumped away and landed a foot to the right of DarkPaladinmon. He pulled out a pistol before loading it and pointing it at Drake.

"If I were you, I'd run." The two leaders said in unison. Drake snarled before retreating into darkness.

DP looked over at Reynol before asking, "What took you so long?"

"Takes a while to get about twenty guys equipped and ready to go." Reynol answered.

DP sighed before admitting, "Still, ya saved my neck back there. Guess I've gotta thank you at this point."

"I'd like that." Reynol said, smugly.

"You don't have to rub it in my face, y'know." DP stated.

"Yeah, but it's still fun." Reynol shrugged.

"I guess you'll be wanting your pay now?" DP asked.

"Nah, this one's on the house." Reynol answered, "We're always nice to first-timers."

"Glad to hear you're that generous." DP murmured in a semi-sarcastic way. He held out his hand, "Still, this alliance could be vital. Do ya think you and your fighters are up to picking up the ball if we make a fumble?"

"More like WHEN." Reynol said, taking DP's hand for a second before walking away.

"I'll never understand those guys." DP murmured to himself with a smirk on his face. He walked towards his own team, ready to regroup.

An odd-looking Gummi Ship appeared in a flurry of random objects that included a building block, a Rubik's cube, and a wash pan.

"I'll never get used to that." A familiar voice moaned before saying, "Well, here's the Earth where my journey stated!"

THE END!

Lunatic121: James Arnold Taylor (normal) Liam O'Brien (Shock Vein)

Kitten Hachi-chan: Michelle Ruff

Wildrook: Frank Frankson

DarkPaladinmon: Christian Bale

Sgt. Marcus Reynol: Steve Blum

JC 619: Benjamin Diskin

PhoenixoftheDarkness: Dakota Fanning

Nukid: Steve Blum

TLSoulDude: Eric Vale

Roscoso: Jonny Yong Bosch

Hikari Ino: Stephanie Sheh

Hurricane's Quill: Dave Whittenburg

Wraith: Willem Dafoe

Shadra: Cree Summers

Vordan: Chris Sabat

Carcharodon: Brian Donovan

Tohokari Kotetsu: Brian Beacock

Kali: Hynden Walch

Glory-Feather: Scott Freeman

Zchazz Tsutsu: Ron Perlman

Poz Hebereke: Nathan Lane

Sasori: Dee Bradley Baker

Sogikihei: Christine Auten

Dark-Blaze: Alessandro Juliani

GSSpiritDude: Jason Liebrecht

Johan: Christopher Sabat

Omaddon: Brian Donovan

The Face: Derek Steven Prince

Regalia: Laura Bailey

Krolton Darkheart: David Boat

Hanabi Hyuga: Colleen O'Shaughnessey

Story by TLSoulDude

Concept by JC 619

_Thank you for reading it and I hoped you enjoyed the story. If you have any critiques on it, I would like to hear them._

_Next on my FAF agenda is probably my most anticipated FAF fics: Author Fighters: Shattered Universe!_


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